Disaster Averted

[DailyDi]

So... almost burnt the house down last night. Left a pizza box on the stove and somehow one of the cats managed to turn the burner on. Luckily Mom was in the living room and saw the smoke and flames pretty quick and we threw the fireball into the sink and hosed it out. No major damage, but scared the hell out of us.

Took way to long for the smoke detector to go off, need to add one closer to the kitchen.

[Nia]

Wow that's scary. I'm glad everyone is OK.

[id0ntknow]

Yikes. Glad that everyone is okay.

[AbabeBill]

I always believed pizza was good for you. Wow, glad things worked out ok. 

[NannaAnnabelle]

Yikes! That's my big fear! Glad you caught it.

[~Brian~]

2 hours ago, DailyDi said:

So... almost burnt the house down last night. Left a pizza box on the stove and somehow one of the cats managed to turn the burner on. Luckily Mom was in the living room and saw the smoke and flames pretty quick and we threw the fireball into the sink and hosed it out. No major damage, but scared the hell out of us.

Took way to long for the smoke detector to go off, need to add one closer to the kitchen.

@DailyDi

I can relate:  for some reason, when I moved back here in 2007, after living in another building for 8-9 months, we had brand new quarters.  i had problems with the main panel, and after that was found out by me, I noticed that the breakers were CONSTANTLY popping off, and were weak.  I was told that there was NOTHING wrong with the breakers, but I opened the panel and SHOWED them the bad breaker.  They said that because i was disabled, I had special breakers in my box.  My roomie (next door neighbor) has a one bedroom next ti mine, and we have had problems with power in our units.  We both had these special breakers.

I got upset because there is SUPPOSED to be a breaker that will pop off if the charge going through it is powerful enough, but the ones that were malfunctioning were not even tripped all the way.  They later found that the breakers were faulty, and replaced 4 in here, and 4 in my roomies unit. 

I have also had situations where I have had my OVEN turn on or have the burner TURN on without touching anything - have had that happen twice.  There was also a day when I came home in my previous quarters, and found that brushing up against the stove turned the burner UP HI and that started a fire, because I had a flat plastic spatula on the pan - it set off the alarm, and i had to have my brother get it outside, where it was raining, and was able to be extinguished, but it scorched the DECKING of our fire escape.  No problems:  was able to get that looked at, but to this day, I have NO BEEPIN CLUE why that happened, and sometimes, I resort to hitting the main panel breaker if I will be away for extended periods.

Yesterday, my brother and I were gonna use the oven to cook.  He set the oven, added his dinner, and I used the microwave to defrost.  When I got back to the stove, the Right Front burner was FLAMING RED, and I could have burned my hand or worse - No Fire, no Injuries, but lucky I felt the heat, or i would have been hurt.

I would agree Mikey:  Add the extra smoke and CO detectors if necessary:  when a fire breaks out, you've got about TWO MINUTES to act, and if you CAN'T do that, get the hell out. suggest that any burner that you are NOT using have its KNOB removed, so that your kitties don't press down and turn on any burners.

Glad to hear you are OK *5ers and HUGS*

Brian

 

[Little Cub Pants]

That was a close call, I'm glad everyone's alright!

[22k5]

we're both happy that  everyone's alright and safe.

[ValentinesStuff]

You need to teach your cats the proper way to reheat pizza.

[BabyJilly_S]

Wow, close call, so glad everyone is ok

[Dubious]

So no children/cat safety things on your oven?

[AwakenEvil]

Man you lucked out!

[DailyDi]

41 minutes ago, Dubious said:

So no children/cat safety things on your oven?

Didn't know we needed them. Already have the push and turn knobs

[Cute_Kitten]

Yikes that's a close call! Good thing your mom caught it when she did!

[Little Sherri]

Wow, man, that was close! I had a related experience a few years ago when we put some pizza in the oven to stay warm, still in the box, and a couple of slices, and, of course, the box, got left in there overnight, on the top rack, and in the morning, someone turned the oven on for some other purpose, and the upper element came on and set the box to smoldering in short order. It probably wouldn't have been a "lost everything" conflagration, contained, as it was, to the inside of the oven, but, the smell was awful - those pizza boxes are coated with some kind of wax or plastic. 

[DailyDi]

Yeah, we're Fabreezeing the curtains to get that smoke smell out of them lol

[Alex Bridges]

As an outside, but keen, observer, I’m sure this wasn’t an accident. It’s just the kind of thing cats do. Knocking stuff off counters, jumping on your chest and forcing you to look at their arsehole, stealing money from your wallet, murder - typical cat behavior

[Cute_Kitten]

On 12/2/2020 at 7:09 PM, Alex Bridges said:

As an outside, but keen, observer, I’m sure this wasn’t an accident. It’s just the kind of thing cats do. Knocking stuff off counters, jumping on your chest and forcing you to look at their arsehole, stealing money from your wallet, murder - typical cat behavior

This made me think of the cat commercial.  "I'm your cat, and ever since you brought me home, I've been plotting to destroy you." 

(422) Cat :30 | Allstate Mayhem - YouTube

 

[anned]

On 11/30/2020 at 11:40 AM, ~Brian~ said:

@DailyDi

I can relate:  for some reason, when I moved back here in 2007, after living in another building for 8-9 months, we had brand new quarters.  i had problems with the main panel, and after that was found out by me, I noticed that the breakers were CONSTANTLY popping off, and were weak.  I was told that there was NOTHING wrong with the breakers, but I opened the panel and SHOWED them the bad breaker.  They said that because i was disabled, I had special breakers in my box.  My roomie (next door neighbor) has a one bedroom next ti mine, and we have had problems with power in our units.  We both had these special breakers.

I got upset because there is SUPPOSED to be a breaker that will pop off if the charge going through it is powerful enough, but the ones that were malfunctioning were not even tripped all the way.  They later found that the breakers were faulty, and replaced 4 in here, and 4 in my roomies unit. 

there are many fake, counterfiet, and gray market electricial breakers out there.

back wheni worked as a electrician i found many in homes and bussnesses even in hospitals

 

 

 

[Alex Bridges]

I just stepped outside, and sure enough, startled a cat stalking a possum right off my patio. I’m tell ya - they’re murder lovers!

[anned]

Anytime you buy a stove you need to check the knobs you want the type that you push in to turn on.

This is a safety facter that can stop a number of fires.

This is also important if you own cats or dogs or have young kids.

there are kits to retrofit stoves.

https://www.google.com/search?q=safety+knobs+on+stoves&sxsrf=ALeKk00mLwM8P72vXSWjwpD7O5ghjn_B_g:1613427263144&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwvI_39OzuAhVYOs0KHXcEDQcQ_AUoAnoECA8QBA&biw=1280&bih=643

as for electricial always look for any bad printing on any breakers.

and load test any new breakers you install by over loading them while testing them with a clamp on ampmeter.

i have found breakers that were only off on switchs and had no trip unit in them.

https://www.hackster.io/news/big-clive-tears-down-an-un-trippable-circuit-breaker-finds-a-dangerous-fake-30dc62f1ecd9

[feralfreak]

On 12/2/2020 at 7:09 PM, Alex Bridges said:

As an outside, but keen, observer, I’m sure this wasn’t an accident. It’s just the kind of thing cats do. Knocking stuff off counters, jumping on your chest and forcing you to look at their arsehole, stealing money from your wallet, murder - typical cat behavior

its like when a cat circles your feet, its them trying to kill you

On 12/5/2020 at 9:52 PM, Alex Bridges said:

I just stepped outside, and sure enough, startled a cat stalking a possum right off my patio. I’m tell ya - they’re murder lovers!

reminds me of one of the cats being a landmine at the top of the stairs, in the dark, and its a black cat, i step down and almost fall down the stairs trying to keep from breaking his spine(where i use to live)

On 11/30/2020 at 11:39 AM, DailyDi said:

So... almost burnt the house down last night. Left a pizza box on the stove and somehow one of the cats managed to turn the burner on. Luckily Mom was in the living room and saw the smoke and flames pretty quick and we threw the fireball into the sink and hosed it out. No major damage, but scared the hell out of us.

Took way to long for the smoke detector to go off, need to add one closer to the kitchen.

you need one in the kitchen, AND a good fire extinguisher, i want one in every room of my house, been through house fires before, 3 of them, the last one took our house, i dont remember if we had a detector or in the kitchen where the fire originated, but we did have a security system, which was DEAD AS A DOORNAIL!, panel was completely dead so it was no help, if you have a security system, please please please dont rely on it to tell you if there is a fire, they are good to have, they helped us stop intruders, but dont rely on it.

[LonesomeLamp]

This whole thread reminds me of a few things that’s happened here over the past decade (we’ve been in this specific house since 2006 I believe?). My older sister once tried to make cinnamon toast. It didn’t occur to her that you’re not supposed to put already-buttered toast (also already had sugar and cinnamon too) into a toaster. I wasn’t there to witness it, but I heard that the flames reached the cabinets. No damage, except maybe to the toaster.

 

Later, she decided to install a ceiling fan in her bedroom. She’s not very electrically talented. Absolutely destroyed the breaker going to the room. You’d think that’s all there is to this story, but it gets worse. Of course, we replaced the breaker, but we made a very important discovery in the breaker box: all of the grounds were installed only finger tight....barely, even. We fixed that too.

[ValentinesStuff]

@LonesomeLamp I have a friend with some sort of Electrical Engineering degree, he nearly electrocuted himself fixing a lamp he failed to unplug first.

[LonesomeLamp]

I have an associates in electrical engineering. At the time, I didn’t know how to wire a ceiling fan, but I wouldn’t have destroyed a breaker lol. I wasn’t there to help, though. My parents and I think my younger sister had went somewhere, but idr where.