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Why Electrical Inspections Are Important

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packsaddle

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Oct 17, 2009
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237
Official: Wrong fuse caused fire that killed 6 children in upstate New York village in June

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. – Authorities say the wrong fuse sparked a fire in June that tore through an old wood-frame house in upstate New York and killed six children.

William Cook, the Washington County director of public safety, says an outlet on the first floor that should have been protected by a 15-amp fuse instead had a 30-amp fuse, allowing the wire that fed the outlet to catch fire. A smaller fuse would have cut power before the wire overheated.

An air conditioner was plugged into the outlet. A surviving adult says it was off when the fire broke out early on June 26.

Cook says no criminal charges will be filed, calling the fire "a horrific accident."

Six children, ages 1 to 12, died in the blaze. Three adults and another child escaped the house about 45 miles north of Albany.
 
Only ongoing electrical inspections could prevent this, and I don't think anybody wants electrical inspectors checking their fuseboxes every month or so.

It's likely that the fusebox was installed 50 or more years ago, and the right fuse was put in then, but the occupants replaced it with the wrong fuse either out of ignorance or because the 15 amp fuse kept blowing.
 
Sad but true,

The problem; as I see it is; they don't have screw type fuse boxes any more; and they quite making pennies out of pure copper.

Uncle Bob
 
Electrical inspections would not have caught this (Unless we have ongoing inspections).

The Edison-Base type of fuse panel that would allow any fuse to be installed from a 15 to a 30 in the same spot have not be manufactured for many years.

To combat this problem there are fuse adapters that can be installed in an Edison-Based fuse holder that converts it to a Type-S fuse holder. Type-S fuses can't be interchanged.

The only way to prevent a similar tragedy as posted is to educated owners of older homes.

Chris
 
packsaddle said:
An air conditioner was plugged into the outlet. A surviving adult says it was off when the fire broke out early on June 26.
Click to expand...
Since the appliance was turned off at the time, there is no way to know if the fire would have been prevented by having the proper size fuse. Might as well say that the wires were old and the insulation failed and the bare wires caused a problem.

I have an electrical outlet - 20amp, 12g wire, 20amp fuse. I use it enough that the wiring at the outlet and the outlet have darkened and shrunk back some - looks like a fire is soon to be. But it is code compliant.

Bad things happen.
 
sometimes they do... I just approved a service upgrade - 200 amp. The meter was (and will be) inside... they are using a fused disconnnect. Nothing prevents it.. just maybe more dangerous than it needs to be.
 
The only thing an electrical inspection can do at the beginning is check to see if it meets the code at the present time. What happens after the original inspection is anybodies guess. People don't get permits to save money. The TV and Net are full of how to do programs and books. we all see this all the time. Harry home owner to billy bob contractor. We now how to do this and we don't need to get a permit. There just going to cost us more money.
 
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