A warning of fire hazard!!

[brianc]

About 2 weeks ago, I had a little social gathering at home and "demonstrated" a few bits of my collection. One that got a good hammering was the 1937 Marconiphone 703 Mastergram, providing background music from 78s for most of the afternoon. The next day we went to the Isle of Wight for 6 nights. About 3 days after returning, a friend called in and wanted to see a picture on the Mastergram. You can imagine my horror when I discovered that it had been left on in the gram mode since the party - that's well over a week and with the house empty! Fortunately, nothing had occurred during that time and it worked splendidly. However, I have decided to install an LED or something behind the speaker grille to warn me that it's active. The dial lights are very often fairly dim and one cannot guarantee to see them

Be warned!!!!

[ben]

before going away even for a w/e, I unplug everything except the kitchen appliances. it's become a habit.

[brianc]

A good discipline to have Ben. However, some of the sockets are almost impossible to get to (for an old codger like me!). I suppose I could get some of those remote switching systems - but I would still need to remember!

[Lucien Nunes]

When I rebuild anything major, I tend to slip a thermal fuse into the transformer if possible, and/or near any large source of heat. Hopefully it would save the transformer from faults downstream, but at least if the transformer does go up in smoke it would reduce the likelihood of fire.

Lucien

[Hunts smoothing bomb]

I wouldn't use those remote switched sockets if I were you, the ones I had used to turn on and off when they felt like it, day or night!

Cheers

[jay_oldstuff]

plus they use very cheep and nasty PSU arrangements in them that kicks out loads of RFI not good for listening to out radios.

Jay

[murphyv310]

Been there Brian and have the "T" shirt to prove it! Not only that have done it too many times. I left on my Ekco TMB272 for two days, I had turned off the aurora's so there was no visible raster on the screen, no damage was done and the set is fine!
I did it on the V4 too before I sorted out the LOPT from its saturation problem, it blew the HT fuse as the PL81 got all sucked in, other than that the set survived. I have done it countless times with radio's, now I have have a notice on the inside of the shed door saying,
CHECK THE MAINS.

[fidobsa]

I use one of those Efergy plug in energy monitors. For sets operated in a shed or workshop it would be possible to have a master socket with one of those plugged in and run the rest of the sockets from an extension lead plugged into that. You could then either turn everything off using the master socket switch when leaving the shed or check the energy reading to see if anything has been left on. It is also a handy device to check if a newly acquired set it taking the expected amount of current.

[Heatercathodeshort]

I have left numerous vintage receivers on for as long as two weeks in my vintage workshop. I only noticed one last winter due to the dark nights revealing an eerie glow radiating from the screen of a 12" Ekco television that had been switched on constantly for over a week.. It was a bit like a scene from E.T. I now have two laminated notices, one for the workshop door [which is remote from the house] and another that slots into the inside of the kitchen door. Both say 'EQUIPMENT SWITCHED ON IN WORKSHOP!'
It has worked so far. Regards, John.

[kalee20]

Look on the bright side - at least it was switched to 'Gram', not to 'TV', which would have been 200-plus hours on the CRT, timebase thyratron, EHT rectifier etc - plus the far greater risk of fireworks!

Treat this as a wake-up call - nothing happened, luckily.

[Aerodyne]

When I wired the workshop I placed every socket (all doubles) in plain view above the bench, to avoid inadvertent leaving-on.
Guess what...
-Tony
(Did I hear someone mumble something about the best laid plans of mice and men?)

[paulsherwin]

We do need to keep things in perspective though. It's obviously not advisable to leave old valve gear powered up and unattended for over a week, but it's very unlikely to burn the house down, especially if it's been restored properly.

[DAVEHALL]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

We do need to keep things in perspective though. It's obviously not advisable to leave old valve gear powered up and unattended for over a week, but it's very unlikely to burn the house down, especially if it's been restored properly.

And if other areas are like mine -talk nicely to the Fire Service (especially if you're an old codger ) -
Most will fit smoke detectors ( with a 10 year battery) FOC ,and give your place a fire safety check.

[mark pirate]

I Have left gear running in the workshop many times!
Now i have moved house & have a nice new 10x8 workshop, i intend to connect all workbench sockets to a switch by the door next to the light switch & use trevors idea of a notice on the door to remind me
Also i am going to fit a smoke alarm, just in case....

Mark

[murphyv310]

This thread reminds me of a set I was given from the Police garage in Irvine.
It was a Defiant radio from the early 50's, it came from Irvine Co-op, a Defiant, I was given it it in 2003, It never broke down other than a broken drive cord and a missing back, often the lads would turn up for work and the radio had been playing all weekend. They moved to a new garage in 2003 hence the reason I got it. The set was in bad nick but I re-strung the drive cord and gave it to Bob in Sorn for the museum, it still works and is totally original except for the drive cord!

[Top Cap]

I don't have a workshop now but when I did, I arranged all power sockets to be supplied by a contactor. A recessed momentary ON button made it self latch using its auxiliary contacts and a prominent momentary OFF button interrupted the self hold and made the contactor drop out. Apart from the convenience of also having some emergency stop buttons around the place, especially at the work bench, it was so nice to just hit the STOP button on leaving, knowing all the power was isolated. A large neon lamp on the door switch box made certain you did not miss the fact that the contactor was ON.

[brianc]

Fitting a "master off" switch to a workshop is really a no-brainer (I must get round to it ) However, for a house with the two standard ring circuits, and a 200 year old one at that, such a thing is impractical because of devices with timers etc. having to be treated differently. I have smoke alarms fitted but they are not much use when the property is empty. I do try to make my restorations safe using the correct components, fuses and cables but there is always a chance that a mains transformer, for example, will overheat and catch fire with quite low mains current and the wooden cabinets of this sort of thing are normally very dry - at least we hope so - so a conflagration is always a risk.
Training is the best way but old dogs and new tricks come to mind!!

[Biggles]

In my last job, all the socket outlets in the workshop were connected through a wall mounted RCCD and at the end of every day, the last man out popped the trip button. I haven't gone as far as installing one in my own workshop, but I must admit I am a bit obssesive about disconnecting everything when I leave.
Alan.

[audiomagpie]

It's so easily done, we're all only human at the end of the day. All my sockets are above bench worktop height so it is quite easy to see the socket switches. Apart from when the worktops are covered in ongoing projects of course. I did leave my soldering iron plugged in for a couple of days recently, a standard basic Antex one with no temp control stat. It stayed in its stand luckily. I do have a smoke detector in there linked up with the rest in the house, but as already said, no good if you're out!

However, my BTH Type C wireless, circa 1923, (and made about a mile away from where I now live) has been left on for many weeks. Doesn't even get warm

Greg

[Michael Maurice]

In my workshop I do have a master switch and a bench switch. I also have a fridge/freezer which we used when the kitchen fridge was full.

On going on Holiday once, I turned off the master switch.

Of course all the food defrosted and I got another ear bashing from SWMBO.