Close call with fire

[senangsekali]

My hot water heater caught fire this afternoon. Thanks to the admiral, she noticed smoke from the engine room. Opened engine room door and filled with smoke. Seen a flame coming from the hot water heater electrical connection box. Disconnected power and put the fire out. No damage other than the hot water wires and a few other 12v wires nearby. Its a miracle that we didn't leave the boat. It would of been out of control in short time.

 

[Comodave]

Good work containg and putting out the fire. How much if any smoke damage?

 

[lipets]

Take that lady out to dinner!!

 

[Lou_tribal]

You cut the power but did the heater breaker triped? I would check the electrical setup while fixing the heater damages.

L

 

[senangsekali]

Good work containg and putting out the fire. How much if any smoke damage?

a few wires in the bundle that had power to the hot water heater.

 

[healhustler]

I’m so glad you caught it in time. I’m with Lou on the breaker question though. I’d hope that my breaker would flip before any fire. My 31 year old (original) hot water heater finally gave up this year. Never an issue till it died.

Time to romance the Admiral!

 

[senangsekali]

yes the breaker did trip once before the smoke. I reset it and seemed fine until the smoke was visible but didn't trip after I reset it.

You cut the power but did the heater breaker triped? I would check the electrical setup while fixing the heater damages.

L

 

[senangsekali]

Yes she said she is getting a pedicure. lol

Take that lady out to dinner!!

 

[senangsekali]

We just completed a week in the US. Left Anacortes today and when I plugged in shore power when I got to my home dock. 10 Minutes later the smoke was visible. It was a great trip from Anacortes to Sidney BC though.

 

[Boat]

Sometimes electrical fires defy the underlying math and logic. Decades ago we watched an alarm clock cord go up in flames for no explainable reason. One of those things, had to be there. Wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it with my own eyes and still don't understand it. Under different circumstances it would have taken down the whole house.

 

[DDW]

A breaker will only trip when the load exceeds the breaker rating. With a higher resistance fault, fire is easy to make. You can arc weld without tripping the breaker, as long as the arc doesn't draw more than 15A or whatever.

 

[sdowney717]

Especially with high amp appliances, any resistance such as bad wiring or bad connections turns into lots and lots of heat. Hot enough to catch fire. This problem was smoldering for a while I bet.

Maybe one of those temperature sensing handheld devices where you point and measure is a good idea. Test for abnormally hot things.

 

[JohnEasley]

Wow! Lucky you caught just in time. Could have been so much worse. Yeah, good idea to investigate the breaker, too.

 

[senangsekali]

So i plan on going with isotherm 6 gal spa hot water heater on the new install.