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This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He
pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
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This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 23:39:59 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote: Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? That's my guess. Did he have any tin foil hats? |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
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This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 1:46:35 AM UTC-6, wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 23:39:59 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote: Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? That's my guess. Did he have any tin foil hats? It took me a few minutes to find the study done by MIT grad students on the subject of aluminum hats. \(—¦'Œ£'—¦)/ https://keysduplicated.com/~ali/helmet/ [8~{} Uncle Foil Monster |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Tony Hwang wrote:
.... Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? or just random radio noise, i'm not sure how effective grounded chicken wire would be, but if you're a radio geek and experimenting with antenna type stuff... no tinfoil hat required if the guy was actually a hobbyist. songbird |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 1:14:45 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Does every room have the chicken wire? If not, perhaps this one room was intended to be a "safe room", either for habitation during a complete and utter societal breakdown/ zombie apocalypse or to add a layer of protection for a gun safe, money safe, etc. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 12:14:45 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Pretty obvious, to keep the chickens in. Or out. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Thank you. That is a unique situation. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 07:53:56 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote: Does every room have the chicken wire? He did not say if it was every room, but he sort of made it sound like it is. When I see him again, I'll ask. If not, perhaps this one room was intended to be a "safe room", either for habitation during a complete and utter societal breakdown/ zombie apocalypse or to add a layer of protection for a gun safe, money safe, etc. Apparently the former owner was very old, since he has since passed away from old age. It's possible the guy had age related mental issues.... It also appears there was no "builder" (as in construction company), so the old guy must have built it himself, probably with the help of friends, if he was that old. The present owner said he did a lot of checking to find out who did the construction, and why they used the chicken wire. He found nothing. Since this is a rural farm home, asking nearby neighbors revealed little help. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
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This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 1:14:45 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! the hose i grew up in had plaster over metal lathe, perhaps the builder was trying to do that and gave up. this is why code requires metal plates applied over anywhere wires go thru studs |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 14:23:18 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote: This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! the hose i grew up in had plaster over metal lathe, perhaps the builder was trying to do that and gave up. You grew up in a HOSE? :) Yes, I do think this is the most logical reason. The guy probably wanted to plaster it. this is why code requires metal plates applied over anywhere wires go thru studs You're right. I always use them. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On 12/7/2015 6:28 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 14:23:18 -0800 (PST), bob haller wrote: This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! the hose i grew up in had plaster over metal lathe, perhaps the builder was trying to do that and gave up. You grew up in a HOSE? :) We had a lathe in metal shop. I'm sure the instructor would have been upset if some one had plastered over it. -- .. Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .. www.lds.org .. .. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 23:39:59 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote: wrote: Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? That was my first thought but if that's the case why the first layer of sheet rock? Just tack up the chicken wire and then one layer of sheet rock on top of it. Maybe he was going to purposely connect it to the electric and create a whole house chicken wire embedded heating system!! |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Tekkie® wrote:
[This followup was posted to alt.home.repair and a copy was sent to the cited author.] Tony Hwang posted for all of us... wrote: Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? Openings are too big. You can just say big or small. It depends what frequency(wave length)it tries to deal with. You saw old reflectors are like mesh with holes for satellite LNG receivers. You know what the simple formula is to determine the size of holes? I worked on this things in the way past. Leap frog tropo. scatter system and DEW lines in the North. |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Art Todesco wrote:
On 12/7/2015 3:13 AM, Uncle Monster wrote: On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 12:40:05 AM UTC-6, Tony Hwang wrote: wrote: Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? That's what I thought too. A Faraday cage. (€¢€¿€¢) [8~{} Uncle Cage Monster On a side note, my previous house, built in 1972 in the south western suburbs of Chicago, used drywall coated with aluminum foil on the back, as a vapor barrier. Obviously the chicken wire wouldn't act as a vapor barrier, however, it was interesting that almost all cell phones, including mine, didn't work inside this house. When I was forced to replace the phone (lost, actually hidden under the car seat), the new one worked perfectly, even in the basement! When it was finally found, I kept the new one. Due to some of my concerns about RFI, the engineers of a medical research building specified aluminum backed drywall. It was attached to steel studs. How did it work ? Fair. Better in the inner rooms in the building. 13 stories. The outer rooms with doors and windows into the hallway were not that great at shielding. Any small openings or poor connections can leak. Any wiring, ac, Internet, etc, can feed RFI into the space. They built another building with the same specs nearby. Luckily, most if the intense interference disappeared. Was the old analog tv transmitter at WQED Pittsburgh. Home of Mr. Rodgers. After the conversion to digital, there was no video to demodulate. It just appeared as random noise. Another of my investigations resulted in fitting the bottom half if a lab with steel plates, all welded together. That was from a MRI unit below. The steel helped divert the magnetic field. Greg |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
Tekkie® wrote:
[This followup was posted to alt.home.repair and a copy was sent to the cited author.] Tony Hwang posted for all of us... wrote: Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? Openings are too big. The openings are small enough to filter up to couple gigHz. Depends on chicken wire size, but steel is also pretty poor conductor at that freq. Got to be less than quarter wavelength hole opening. Greg |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 1:14:45 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason..... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! I was servicing copiers and had one customer with a wierd problem, occasionally it would print with no one pushing the button. eventually I traced i to the 2 way radio shop next door, there was one rarely serviced transmitter model they would repair. when they powered it up the copier ran, solution? when not using copier turn it off...... |
This is an ODDBALL reason for an Electrical Fire
[This followup was posted to alt.home.repair and a copy was sent to the
cited author.] gregz posted for all of us... Art Todesco wrote: On 12/7/2015 3:13 AM, Uncle Monster wrote: On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 12:40:05 AM UTC-6, Tony Hwang wrote: wrote: Several year ago, a guy I know bought a rural home which had a fire. He pretty much paid for the land and a garage, and the house was included for free. Aside from smoke damage, most of the house was salvagable, and had not burned. But one room was burned. He knew he had a lot of work to do, but for a good price, he bought it. He has since been rebuilding. Initially, the room that burned had to be rebuilt from the floor up. The rest of the house had to have much of the sheetrock, cabinets, flooring and so on, replaced because of the smoke damage, as well as replacing all the wiring. But, there is a reason I'm posting this, because it's a very bizarre situation. The room where the fire started, ignited because of an electrical short. But one that no one would expect. Whoever built that house, put sheetrock on the walls, covered them with chicken wire, then applied another layer of sheetrock over the chicken wire. Dont ask me why.... I asked the guy who now owns it, and he said he tried to locate the original owner or builder, but it appers the guy died from old age. So, no one knows why they used 2 layers of sheetrock or the chicken wire. My thoughts on this could be two reasons. He was going to apply some sort of stucco to the walls and the chicken wire was the base for it, then changed his mind and just covered the walls again with more sheetrock. OR the chicken wire was intended to keep rodents out, but I know for fact that mice and rats can get thru a hole much smaller than the holes in chicken wire. Anyhow, no one really knows the reason...... However, the fire was caused because a drywall screw penetrated an electrical cable. That same screw was contacting the chicken wire between the layers of sheetrock. And that chicken wire was likely grounded to an electrical box, or maybe pipes, or something else. It was probably like that for years. One day the chicken wire got hot enough to start the place on fire. This was the determination of the cause of the fire from the fire investigators. The present owner said when they tore those walls down, they could see sections of the chicken wire were welded and melted and left burn marks on the paper coating of the sheetrock. He also said the teardown was a tough job because of that chicken wire. This is definitely an unusual case, so I thought I'd share it! Maybe chicken wires were there to shield EMF? That's what I thought too. A Faraday cage. (???) [8~{} Uncle Cage Monster On a side note, my previous house, built in 1972 in the south western suburbs of Chicago, used drywall coated with aluminum foil on the back, as a vapor barrier. Obviously the chicken wire wouldn't act as a vapor barrier, however, it was interesting that almost all cell phones, including mine, didn't work inside this house. When I was forced to replace the phone (lost, actually hidden under the car seat), the new one worked perfectly, even in the basement! When it was finally found, I kept the new one. Due to some of my concerns about RFI, the engineers of a medical research building specified aluminum backed drywall. It was attached to steel studs. How did it work ? Fair. Better in the inner rooms in the building. 13 stories. The outer rooms with doors and windows into the hallway were not that great at shielding. Any small openings or poor connections can leak. Any wiring, ac, Internet, etc, can feed RFI into the space. They built another building with the same specs nearby. Luckily, most if the intense interference disappeared. Was the old analog tv transmitter at WQED Pittsburgh. Home of Mr. Rodgers. After the conversion to digital, there was no video to demodulate. It just appeared as random noise. Another of my investigations resulted in fitting the bottom half if a lab How many aluminum foil hats? -- Tekkie |
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