Fridge Fire

[Tram]

This was in the York Press today:

"Electrical fault blamed for caravan fire

A FAULTY fridge is thought to have sparked a caravan blaze on a York estate.

Fire crews and police were called out to Alcuin Avenue, in Tang Hall, at 12.48am yesterday after reports of a caravan on fire. There were fears that someone could have been inside.

On arrival, the firefighters found the caravan well alight in the garden of a house, but there was no one inside the van and the residents were not at home.

The caravan was gutted before the blaze was extinguished. No one was injured in the incident.

Watch manager Dave Ashman, of York fire bigade, said: "On first inspection we believe there could have been an electrical fault in the refrigeration system. Camping fridges are notorious for doing that sort of thing."

It's the last sentance that bothers me. Is this true?

Are fridge fires caused by electical faults commonplace?

 

[SteveW77]

I worked in production control at Electrolux for 13yrs, in that time I never heard of any occurance of that kind of fault. Plenty of other faults, but not that one.

Steve W

 

[lefrog]

It goes to show one thing though ,how important it is to ALWAYS use the right fuse NEVER a higher value!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Tom,

You are quite right that the right fuse does provide a important safety factor, but there is sufficient energy in a system fused at 3A to cause a fire by other means.

It would be very wrong to assume that simply having the right fuse prevents other potential serious failures.

We don't know the true circumstances of this case, so don't read to much into the newspaper report.

 

[Rubix]

Unfortunately if the electrical wires supplying power to the fridge are under rated (ie too thin) they can overheat, and no matter how low rated a fuse is, it woudn't blow.

Fuses only blow when the current passing throught them is higher than the rated value (I won't go into whether it is a fast or slow blow fuse) for a pre-determined time.

Simple answer when the 'van is not in use turn off EVERTHING that is not needed.