Posted by fixerupper on February 13, 2008 at 10:43:16 from (216.51.182.132):
In Reply to: Block heater fire posted by fixerupper on February 13, 2008 at 07:40:59:
In a block heater or tank heater fire the cause of the fire is almost always caused by the wire going bad and burning. 'Going bad' is kind of a loosely used description.
The power wire going to the heater can have corrosion where it enters the heater, causing it to lose good contact, causing heat in the wire. Eventually the heat builds up enough to start something burning. Another cause is a crack in the insulation on the wire letting moisture and air get to the metal conductors. Over time the good part of the wire that's left gets too thin to carry the electrical load, so it gets hot.
This corrosion can be hidden by the insulation so the wire might look fine on the outside but it's very sick internally. If there's any crack of any kind in the wire, someday it will corrode.
Engine heaters pull a fairly good amount of juice and they are under load constantly, so there is close to a 100 percent chance they will fail at some time.
The tank type heater that's sits beside the engine somewhere and has hoses going to the block might have a safety device that prevents them from overheating if they go dry but I'm not sure about that. Someone else on the board who's much more experienced than me can answer that.
It's always good to use at least a 14 ga. or heavier drop cord running to the heater and it should be in good shape. We have to remember that we usually are'nt close by when this engine heater is working so if the wire fries and lets out a poof of smoke we won't be there to unplug it or kick it out of the way. A neighbor had a small fire from a cord that was damaged from him being too lazy to move it after he unplugged the tractor, so he kept driving over it. Eventually the gord got it's revenge.
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