"Porky" wrote in message
oups.com...

If the house has correct circuit breakers or proper 15 amp fuses, they
will protect against shorts in the wiring.

FALSE. It is perfectly possible for an imperfect short with a resistance
of, say, 10 ohms to start a fire without blowing a fuse.

Think about it... your electric space heater doesn't blow a fuse. And it
definitely generates an amount of heat that would start a fire if it were in
direct contact with the walls.

If two wires touch directly, with little resistance between them, the fuse
will blow.

If two wires touch and the resistance between them is in a certain range
(maybe 10 to 100 ohms), there will be a lot of heat emitted (hundreds of
watts), but the fuse won't blow.

That is what MIGHT be going on here, if there is a burnt smell coming from
the OUTLET.

If the smell is coming from the TV, then it might be dust burning off (as
you say) or it may be a resistor or power semiconductor starting to go. If
there's excessive dust inside the TV, it should be cleaned out (BY A
TECHNICIAN who knows about high-voltage precautions) so that it doesn't
cause other parts to overheat. A thermally insulating blanket of dust is
very bad for electronics.