Wheeee. Now THAT was scary ...

Arfa Daily · 2012-11-19T09:27:34+00:00

Had a "bloody hell!" moment yesterday. We were in the kitchen, and the missus had been using the hairdryer (nowhere near anywhere wet, I might add). It's a few years old, but still worked perfectly. Mains lead in good condition. Switches all mechanically good. Anyway, she put it down on the side and turned away to do something else. About two minutes later, it started to run on its own, but it sounded a bit slow and laboured. As we looked at each other, a cloud of the densest most acrid-smelling smoke you have ever seen started pouring out of the handle. After a moment's shocked immobility, I hit the switch on the mains socket, tore the plug out, grabbed it by the lead and ran into my workshop with it. The handle was so hot, you couldn't touch it.After a few minutes, I was able to take the screws out to have a look. The main on / off / speed (might have been on / off / temp - it's gone in the bin now) was a charred lump of plastic and burnt wiring ...Imagine if the scene had followed what often happens - late for being somewhere, hair still damp, quick blast with the hairdryer, chuck it on the side and gone out the door. Maybe, all the components were actually made of a fire retardant plastic, but I don't think I would like to bet on it. I afterwards spoke to a friend who said that he knew someone whose house *did* actually partially burn down, and the fire investigators pinned that to a faulty switch in a hairdryer. They apparently implied that it was largely the fault of the house owners, because they were able to see that the wall switch was still on. Since that happened, my friend has added a timer to the bedroom sockets that his wife and daughter use for their hair-primping paraphernalia.So, a salutary - if not downright scary - experience. Neither of us will be leaving hairdryers switched on at the wall again ... :-Arfa