I was at someone's house yesterday where a space heater is used to keep the living room warm, "No point heating all the other rooms if you're not in them" is the reason I have been told. Okay, seems reasonable enough. So when I entered the house I noticed this smell, sort of similar to a burned hose on a car, when I asked what the smell was the answer was that they didn't know and that it had been that way for a couple of days, that I would come and go. I asked if I could look around and when I checked the outlet this is what I found.



Apparently it didn't occur to anyone to simply take a look.

I told them that the space heater shouldn't be used any more, as a matter of fact I made sure of that by taking it with me, it will be going in the trash today. So, I think I saved their living room being burned up, at the least, maybe the whole house.


yeesh.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: clubleaf206,

Good for you for taking action. That could have been a disaster, especially at night when everyone was asleep.

Jim

Space heaters and fires involving older people seem to go together.
What is the gray part that seems to be the problem here? It looks like some sort of adapter without the ground, stuck on the end of the regular plug.

Wow! That might not have turned out well for the homeowners.

As nasty as those adapter blades look I would recommend they replace the outlet it was plugged into ASAP.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Space heaters and fires involving older people seem to go together.
What is the gray part that seems to be the problem here? It looks like some sort of adapter without the ground, stuck on the end of the regular plug.

It is an adapter to allow a grounded plug to be inserted into a non grounded outlet. Not sure why that was being used, I'm not sure I really want to ask.

quote:

Originally posted by Cliff:
Wow! That might not have turned out well for the homeowners.

Yeah, I think they dodged a bullet for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by Audioholic:
As nasty as those adapter blades look I would recommend they replace the outlet it was plugged into ASAP.

That is going to be dealt with, definitely.

quote:

Originally posted by clubleaf206:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Space heaters and fires involving older people seem to go together.
What is the gray part that seems to be the problem here? It looks like some sort of adapter without the ground, stuck on the end of the regular plug.

It is an adapter to allow a grounded plug to be inserted into a non grounded outlet. Not sure why that was being used, I'm not sure I really want to ask.

Space heaters themselves seem to be the cause of a lot of fires but that adapter was the problem in this case, not the heater itself.
Maybe it was only rated for much lower amperage, like to power a light. Resistance heaters have a high current draw which is why they use so much electricity.

We burned up an outlet in our house with a space heater. I caught it before it caused a fire thanks to our nanny pointing out that the outlet she had her phone plugged into seemed really warm.

I will still use space heaters, but only use them on the medium or low settings.

I've said it a bunch of times on here, don't use those things, they are dangerous. If you have a cold room work with HVAC and insulation company to fix the problem instead of risking your lives on these things.

You did good,had the same thing at my home a couple years ago,at the first smell I search and found it.
I do the same with space heaters as the regular furnace being on makes the power bill jump a hundred to two hundred a month.
I am handy with all house maintenance things and I immediately replace wall receptacle from extra stock I keep on hand.

Mothers, brothers and others, I present Exhibit 'B'.



I also had to splice in wires on one side, the heat had cooked off the insulation.

I think everyone involved is breathing a sigh of relief.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: clubleaf206,

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I've said it a bunch of times on here, don't use those things, they are dangerous. If you have a cold room work with HVAC and insulation company to fix the problem instead of risking your lives on these things.

About a month and a half back we had a fire here that they scored the trifecta on, space heater plugged into an extension cord with things piled on top of the extension cord.

Not only did you save a house but you probably just saved someones life.
Good job

quote:

Originally posted by clubleaf206:
Mothers, brothers and others, I present Exhibit 'B'.

I am not an electrician, but I would be leary of that. If they are going to use a space heater, which Skins has pointed out is a really bad idea, isn't it even more of a safety hazard to use it on a circuit like that, without a ground pin in the plug?

What are the odds that they did not have a working smoke detector?

We used to have people at work bring their own space heaters and plug them into the same surge suppressor as their computers Anytime we came across a heater, the higher-up's decree was that we'd cut the cables

My Mama always told me to try and do something nice for someone every day..

I think this qualifies!

Nice job!