Fire incident

Yet another reason to use my Brother label maker to identify each and every plug in my house.

The case I mentioned was in Bentley. Coincidence perhaps? ;-)

Well, all I can say is that if it were only an iron, I'd find it hard to make a case that a decent coiled up cable would actually cause a fire, unless of course it had been damaged at some time and in some way to either create a spark or generate excess heat. Most Irons I've come across seem to these days have a motion detector, so when left alone for a few minutes, cuts the power until its moved, and also has a thermostat and usually a light showing whether its drawing current or not. Irons most weak point is where the cable goes into the body. I've had nice fireworks there in the past, and of course being a hot device, its most likely that the mains cable of the iron itself was damaged enough to cause problems later on. I never iron anything now I cannot see, since it seems too dangerous and who the heck cares about creases these days? Brian

I once hired a carpet cleaner which was double insulated, but had a metal outer case, presumably for durability. Unfortunately, the cable had slipped through the grip, whilst still functioning, and the live conductor had made contact with the casing. I only realised there was a problem when it sparked to a radiator.

Luckily no harm done, and hire fee waived, but it could so easily have been much more serious.

Chris

I've seen a small Japanese one, with slots about four inches long.

Of course, they only use 100V...

I've received battery chargers from China with rectangular-pin plugs without fuses.

Not a problem for me, as I was building the charger into something larger and didn't need the mains lead, but most people would use it as-is.

I didn't think there were exemptions to IEC 61242 which requires thermal protection.

The title is, "Electrical accessories – Cable reels for household and similar purposes". The text includes the following, "They are intended for household, commercial and light industrial and similar purposes, either indoors or outdoors, with particular reference to safety in normal use".

Are you sure there isn't a non-resettable thermal protection?

so it depends if your use comes under "similar purposes".

Ive burned out extension reels that were coiled up and had too many power tools and lights plugged in.

I wouldn't push a normal reel past about 5A coiled up. I squared remember

I watch a lot of US based videos on DIY and the like. Their electricity setups are sketchy as f*ck

I wonder what other dangerous cost cutting measures they might have made to the innards of the charger.

Please disregard the following line

Some have now been in use for five years with no trouble.

That makes the heating effect 4 times greater, in the strip.

I'm not sure it follows it's unlawful to sell/use cable reels which don't comply with 61242. I can't see any legislation mandating it explicitly in the way there is e.g. for BS 1363 etc for plugs and fuses.

There may of course be legal consequences if they are used. E.g. if an employee suffers as a result of an employer providing an unprotected reel in the workplace. But that's a case of "should" rather than "must" meet the Standard.

It is sometimes possible to meet the relevant safety requirements without using fuses.

John

I'm always ware of self-interest groups spouting lies so take this website accordingly:

That does imply some statutory basis for requiring a thermal cutout.

Just found this:

I remain more convince that Adams cable reels either have an internal non-resettable cut-out or have been sold illegally.

Well found. I agree the effect of the notice is to mandate BS EN

But that's not the end of the story. Regulation 2A was inserted to maintain conformity with EU safety standards. But I'm buggered if I can find from when it applied. In 2003 the Commission published an opinion that "The current version of this standard does not adequately address the risk of fire and of electrical shock in cases where there is a foreseeable overload of cable reels...As a consequence, [EN 61242]is not regarded as giving a presumption of conformity with regard to the risk of fire and of electrical shock in cases of foreseeable overload."

I don't think any cable reels that we have were bought post 2012. Probably quite a few were bought in the mid to late 1990s. If this is considered to be a major issue, perhaps there should be a recall scheme for all cable reel pre-2012 or at least a "new reels for old" scheme.

I wonder how many other members of this NG have a pre-2012 cable reel?

Cheers

Dave R

On 12 Jun 2023, David wrote

My guess is "all of us"...