We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Had I plugged it in, then left the room, I have no doubt that instead of
cleaning up smoke residue, we would have been fighting a fire. Had we left
the townhouse at the time, we probably would have returned to a destroyed
unit, which hopefully, wouldn't have taken others with it.

Pretty scary stuff. Even scarier is that the built-in circuit breaker
apparently didn't do anything. Later, I took the dryer apart, just to see
if I could determine why it failed. Ha! Diagnosis: Innards fried/melted
beyond recognition. The only conclusion I could make was that it was "well
done."

Just thought I'd pass this episode along, for those of you who have never
considered unplugging small appliances, when not in use.

Unc

Be glad it did what it did *QUICK*!

Sounds like it was "on" but the fan wasn't running.

There is supposed to be a thermostatic switch that turns the device off
if it overheats (usually visible just inside the air outlet).

Either the switch was defective, or hanging it with the fan absolutely
not spinning may have allowed the hot air to rise away from the
thermo-switch.
Was it perchance hung with the outlet barrel facing down?

Eather way, it was broke AND defective, always a great combination!

Dave

uncle k wrote:
We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Had I plugged it in, then left the room, I have no doubt that instead of
cleaning up smoke residue, we would have been fighting a fire. Had we left
the townhouse at the time, we probably would have returned to a destroyed
unit, which hopefully, wouldn't have taken others with it.

Pretty scary stuff. Even scarier is that the built-in circuit breaker
apparently didn't do anything. Later, I took the dryer apart, just to see
if I could determine why it failed. Ha! Diagnosis: Innards fried/melted
beyond recognition. The only conclusion I could make was that it was "well
done."

Just thought I'd pass this episode along, for those of you who have never
considered unplugging small appliances, when not in use.

Unc


The device built into the power cord would have been some variation of a
ground fault circuit interrupter or GFCI. The only thing a GFCI or it's
close cousins respond to is a difference between the current flowing on
the two conductors supplying the portable appliance. If the current
differs by more than the devices designed trip point then the GFCI opens
the circuit. A GFCI will carry currents that will destroy the GFCI
itself as long as the current remains balanced. They are intended to
protect against current leaking from the circuit rather than over current.
--
Tom Horne

--
Tom Horne

Well we aren't no thin blue heroes and yet we aren't no blackguards to.
We're just working men and woman most remarkable like you.

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 19:01:18 GMT, HorneTD
wrote:

uncle k wrote:
We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.


It is possible that the motor failed. These hair dryers take the
equivalent of electric radiant room heaters which on the high setting
is typically is 1500 watts or so, however they are designed to work
safely only when the blower motor provides cooling air. There should
be a thermal safety cutout in the appliance itself, but either this
failed or it wasn't installed.

Curious to know if your hair dryer had a UL listing (Underwriters
Laboratories)?

Beachcomber

"Beachcomber" wrote in message

It is possible that the motor failed. These hair dryers take the
equivalent of electric radiant room heaters which on the high setting
is typically is 1500 watts or so, however they are designed to work
safely only when the blower motor provides cooling air. There should
be a thermal safety cutout in the appliance itself, but either this
failed or it wasn't installed.

Make that 1600 W, and considering the brand name, I would be easily duped
into assuming it had a thermal kill switch.

Curious to know if your hair dryer had a UL listing (Underwriters
Laboratories)?

I believe it did. Ya know, I even took the trouble to glance at the intake
screen before I plugged it in, since they are prone to clogging with lint.
It looked fine.

What I hadn't considered was that since this dryer came from my wife's
collection, it may have ingested some long hair, which ultimately strangled
the fan spindle. Or, this is a classic case of small appliance mechanical
failure, with a
happy ending.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Be glad it did what it did *QUICK*!

Amen.

Sounds like it was "on" but the fan wasn't running.

There is supposed to be a thermostatic switch that turns the device off
if it overheats (usually visible just inside the air outlet).

Either the switch was defective, or hanging it with the fan absolutely
not spinning may have allowed the hot air to rise away from the
thermo-switch.
Was it perchance hung with the outlet barrel facing down?


Sure was.

Eather way, it was broke AND defective, always a great combination!

Dave

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:03:09 GMT, "uncle k"
wrote:

We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,

I think if you finally find the manual, it might say only operate if
familar with the safe operating instructions.

expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Had I plugged it in, then left the room, I have no doubt that instead of
cleaning up smoke residue, we would have been fighting a fire. Had we left
the townhouse at the time, we probably would have returned to a destroyed
unit, which hopefully, wouldn't have taken others with it.

Pretty scary stuff. Even scarier is that the built-in circuit breaker
apparently didn't do anything. Later, I took the dryer apart, just to see
if I could determine why it failed. Ha! Diagnosis: Innards fried/melted
beyond recognition. The only conclusion I could make was that it was "well
done."

that 'circuit breaker' was probably an immersion detector. It only
trips if it detects voltage is leaking, as in the case its immersed in
water.



Just thought I'd pass this episode along, for those of you who have never
considered unplugging small appliances, when not in use.

Hair dryers are typically a risk. The NEC even tries to address this
by requiring bathroom receptacles on a 20 amp circuit.


Unc


glad to hear damage was minimial.

tom

In article t,
"uncle k" wrote:

"Beachcomber" wrote in message

It is possible that the motor failed. These hair dryers take the
equivalent of electric radiant room heaters which on the high setting
is typically is 1500 watts or so, however they are designed to work
safely only when the blower motor provides cooling air. There should
be a thermal safety cutout in the appliance itself, but either this
failed or it wasn't installed.

Make that 1600 W, and considering the brand name, I would be easily duped
into assuming it had a thermal kill switch.

Curious to know if your hair dryer had a UL listing (Underwriters
Laboratories)?

I believe it did. Ya know, I even took the trouble to glance at the intake
screen before I plugged it in, since they are prone to clogging with lint.
It looked fine.

What I hadn't considered was that since this dryer came from my wife's
collection, it may have ingested some long hair, which ultimately strangled
the fan spindle. Or, this is a classic case of small appliance mechanical
failure, with a
happy ending.

Your case sounds a lot like this one:

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/P.../94080org.html

Different brand, but might be same OEM.

In any case, I'll bet Vidal Sassoon will send you a free replacement
(hopefully something less flame happy) if you tell them that otherwise,
the charred specimen will be sent to the CPSC.

HorneTD wrote:

The device built into the power cord would have been some variation of a
ground fault circuit interrupter or GFCI...

Coulda been a fuse. UK appliances have these.

Nick

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:03:09 GMT, "uncle k"
wrote:


Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Glad everyone is ok.

You have my story beat. I had a toaster oven, maybe Black and
Decker. It had a lever on the right that one could push down until
it latched and that turned it on.

My kitchen counter was such a mess, piled with boxes and and dishes,
and flat things (pot holders, I dont' remember what) that eventually
the pile landed on the lever and turned on the oven, even though the
lever wasn't far enough down to latch. It went on anyhow.

I smelled something (although the smoke alarm didn't go off) found it
and put it out. I had one of those high quality plastic forks,
translucent grey, on top of it, and it melted into a puddle. And a
couple other things I forget.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

wrote in message

Even though you apparently got it for free, I'd contact the company
and complain. DO NOT TOSS IT IN THE TRASH. They will want to see it,
even if you tore it apart.
.............................

Too late. After my non-scientific analysis, the charred carcus went in the
garbage.

"uncle k" wrote in message
nk.net...
We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until
recently. We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker
built into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding
switch, indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the
center, expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing.
Good. I temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see
what else I could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Had I plugged it in, then left the room, I have no doubt that instead of
cleaning up smoke residue, we would have been fighting a fire. Had we
left the townhouse at the time, we probably would have returned to a
destroyed unit, which hopefully, wouldn't have taken others with it.

Pretty scary stuff. Even scarier is that the built-in circuit breaker
apparently didn't do anything. Later, I took the dryer apart, just to see
if I could determine why it failed. Ha! Diagnosis: Innards fried/melted
beyond recognition. The only conclusion I could make was that it was
"well done."

Just thought I'd pass this episode along, for those of you who have never
considered unplugging small appliances, when not in use.

Unc

I have a hair dryer, same brand, but has two switches. I noticed, that in
the OFF position, if I push the switch up slightly, the heater comes on
before the fan. I always unplug it after use!
John

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 23:49:19 -0600, wrote:

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:03:09 GMT, "uncle k"
wrote:

We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.

Within ten seconds, my wife screamed, and I turned around to see 6" high
flames coming out of the unit. I grabbed it and winged it out onto the
verandah. Fortunately, the black smoke residue left on the wall cleaned
up - no harm done.

Had I plugged it in, then left the room, I have no doubt that instead of
cleaning up smoke residue, we would have been fighting a fire. Had we left
the townhouse at the time, we probably would have returned to a destroyed
unit, which hopefully, wouldn't have taken others with it.

Pretty scary stuff. Even scarier is that the built-in circuit breaker
apparently didn't do anything. Later, I took the dryer apart, just to see
if I could determine why it failed. Ha! Diagnosis: Innards fried/melted
beyond recognition. The only conclusion I could make was that it was "well
done."

Just thought I'd pass this episode along, for those of you who have never
considered unplugging small appliances, when not in use.

Unc


Even though you apparently got it for free, I'd contact the company
and complain. DO NOT TOSS IT IN THE TRASH. They will want to see it,
even if you tore it apart.

Two reasons to complain.

1. You may save someone elses house from burning, even save a life.
2. You will likely get a free and new dryer.

Be sure to tell them you got it new, but do not have the receipt,
because it was a gift.

I *KNOW* they will do something. The reason is because you had a fire
start from it. I have learned from past experience, if a life is
threatened. or a fire starts, etc. from defective merchandise, these
companies want to know, and they will royally kiss you butt because
you are not suing them. In other words, they WILL assist you.

If a product simply fails, the companies are not as willing to help,
because there are no chances of a legal suit.

Good Luck, and be sure to let us know what happens.

PS. I had a compact florescent bulb go up in smoke and sparks.
The company treated me like a king.
I had a livestock tank heater in the process of electricuting one of
my horses. I ripped the cord out of that wall just in time to save
him. That company not only replaced the heater but gave me several
more free ones. (I have since installed GFI's on all of the outlets
they plug into).

I still don't understand the role of the GFI. Was there a problem
with the ground in that receptacle?


Mark