How do electrical fires start in the home?

Question

Have you ever seen an electrical fire? Can a person start an electrical fire? How do you prevent electrical fires? Any info. would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Everyones right be illegal wiring. Get a licensed electrician to do the job right. Unless you want your house burning down. Fires caused by overloads, ground faults etc.

Answer 2

What Causes Electrical Fires

Answer 3

Most electrical fires are caused from faulty wiring. This may be in the plugs/lights or in an appliance. Breakers are made to trip on over current but don't always detect an arc/spark from a circuit, and this is where most electrical fires start.( You do have the occasional instance where the homeowner will rewire a circuit or replace a breaker and use the wrong size wire or breaker and cause a fire.) To prevent this the new NEC(National Electrical Code) calls for arc fault protectors in all bedrooms, just in case you put a nail through a wire or have a faulty wire or appliance that causes an arc/spark. Also, you are advised to tighten your screws on your plugs/breakers annually, but this is never done in the residential setting. Other than that try not to put too many things on one plug(extension cord, etc.), for the most part electrical installations are very safe when the contractor adheres to the NEC. Hope this answers your question.

Answer 4

Electricity is current flowing through a wire. The current flow generates heat. The greater the resistance of the wire (the smaller the cross section of the wire) the greater the heat. Every circuit is supposed to have a circuit breaker or a fuse which are devices that automatically deenergized the circuit if there is too much current flow. Every circuit breaker or fuse is individually sized for the current is can safely carry based on the connected wire size.

Wires are usually copper, and always a good conducting material, usually a metal. These material don't catch on fire, but if there is enough current to get it to 1000 degrees the metal can melt which also interrupts the current flow. In electrical fires There is something near the wire (heat source) that catches on fire at a much lower temperature than the temperature at which the wire melts.

I've seen lots of fires at my houses and my friends houses. Following is a list of them.

The chandelier in one of my Victorians caught on fire. A light bulb burned out and instead of failing open, it shorted the socket in the fixture. The wires inside the fixture were about size 22 AWG and they limited the current flow to less than the 15 Ampere flow which would have tripped the circuit breaker, however they heated up to about 500 degrees and melted the paper and plastic insulation of the socket which caught on fire, so we had a chandelier with 8 electric lights and one 4” flame. I immediately went to turn off the light switch, but turning it off didn’t turn off the light and stop the fire. The house was wired wrong and the switch was on the neutral side of the load. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed the light and the fire went out. Then I went outside and manually turned off the circuit breaker. Many old chandeliers have small wiring that cause a similar fire, but there is little burnable material neat the socket and a fire in a light socket is unlike to catch the house on fire.

Our dishwasher burned up. The heating element at the bottom of the dishwater is an encased electrical conductor that gets really hot and can start a fire when plastic bottles fall down to the bottom and rest against it. The bottles then burn and melt the other parts of the inside of the dishwasher. It is an enclosed space with a limited amount of oxygen and the fires go out before melting the metal case of the dishwasher and burning down the house.

Our dryers have had multiple lint fires. If there is a particularly long or clogged vent pipe the finest lint will work its way through the seals and settle at the bottom of the dryer near the heating element. Eventually if there is enough lint, it can catch on fire. There fires are small and in an enclosed metal space and all the lint burns up before the house catches fire.

We had an electrical panel burn (melt) because of corrosion. It was located outside and the corrosion lessened the current carrying capacity if the stabs. One main phase melted from a temperature of 1000 degrees. Half of the house lost its electricity, but there was no fire because the metal box contained the excessive heat.

Over time all electrical connections become loose. After 20 years of 60hz vibrations screws loosen up. We has one screw on a stove circuit that got loose enough for the wire to melt the circuit breaker and the wire insulation. Loose connections don’t conduct well and generate excessive heat. It is a good idea to tighten all screws and bolts on all electrical panels every 10 years or so.

My son has smoked a stuff animal by hiding it in a light fixture.

He also left a pre-1950 model train transformer (with no overload protection) on and started the transformer and the carpet on fire. As the transformer melted it no long generated heat and the fire went out by itself.

We had one defective screw-in fluorescent bulb that had the ballast smoke itself.

Other people also start fires by having drapes by heaters or light fixtures, by having old christmas tree lights sitting on wrapping paper, and occasionally by doing the things other people have mentioned in their answers.

Answer 5

Most electrical fires in residential homes are caused by overloads.( Putting more demand on a circuit than it is designed for). This is usually accomplished by using receptacle adapters that lets you plug in more items than the receptacle is designed for. The wiring is designed to carry a certain amount of current (amps) without overheating. If you increase the demand (amps), and the circuit breaker (fuse) fails to trip, the wiring can overheat and burn. Extension cords that are too low rated for their actual usage can also overheat and start a fire. (Happens a lot at X-mas time).

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do electrical fires start in the home?
Have you ever seen an electrical fire? Can a person start an electrical fire? How do you prevent electrical fires? Any info. would be appreciated.

Answer 7

Most are caused by improper (illegal) electrical connections or overloading circuits. Prevention can be done by having a licenced tradesman do your electrical work. If you are not experienced in electrical, don't try to do it. The cause of almost all electrical fires can be traced.

Answer 8

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