Nearly burnt the house down ........

teamemmenracing

Senior member
 West of edinburgh
What are the chances of this ............

Sitting in the house on my own watching the MotoGP on telly and I can smell something burning .........
search around and discover that the main electricity wire coming into the house is too hot to touch, insulation is dripping off and the mains connection box is melting into a pool on the floor.

Switch everything off in the house but nothing changes - called Scottish Power and in less than 20 mins an emergency crew arrives while I sit there with a fire extinguisher and a phone ready to dial 999.

Seems like its a 50 year old plus connection and the connections are all dry corroded ........ and, seems like the mains cable coming into my house also feeds half the street which is why me shutting stuff off made no difference.

Casually asked the blokes if it really was a fire hazard lololololol quick answer was ........ good job you were home mate.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Very lucky escape!

Out of interest do you have some kind of additional cover with Scottish Power? I am also with them for my utilities and wondered if this was covered under your standard contract or if its a payable extra.
 
oooch - and yes lucky you were home!

simonlpearce said:
Very lucky escape!

Out of interest do you have some kind of additional cover with Scottish Power? I am also with them for my utilities and wondered if this was covered under your standard contract or if its a payable extra.

I would imagine it's not the contract with Scottish Power, just the utility responsible for maintaining the supply to the house. Just like if you smell gas in the cupboard with the gas meter in it - British Gas come out pretty damn pronto (< 30 mins) in my experience :oops:... luckily the light I turned on under the stairs to investigate didn't ignite the gas :oops: :oops:
 
Code 1 faults like that require the supplier to get there as soon as possible. If you call who you pay the bill to they will either pass the call on to relevant people or deal with it directly. Sometimes it can be different companies as sometimes the company you pay your bill to are just a broker
 
gannet said:
oooch - and yes lucky you were home!

simonlpearce said:
Very lucky escape!

Out of interest do you have some kind of additional cover with Scottish Power? I am also with them for my utilities and wondered if this was covered under your standard contract or if its a payable extra.

I would imagine it's not the contract with Scottish Power, just the utility responsible for maintaining the supply to the house. Just like if you smell gas in the cupboard with the gas meter in it - British Gas come out pretty damn pronto (< 30 mins) in my experience :oops:... luckily the light I turned on under the stairs to investigate didn't ignite the gas :oops: :oops:

I guess you are right. The main reason i asked as i do believe it is somewhat different for the water supply pipe. If that fails inside your boundary then you are responsible. Didn't know if Electricity was the same. Although i guess as it was life threatening it makes sense.
 
Now you see why employers don't want anything that old working for them - they'll just be worried in case you go into melt-down or blow up :poke:
 
You was lucky you was in at the time!, I have had to clear a few houses that have been burnt out from fires off different sorts its not a nice
thing if the fire doesn't wreck everything then the firemen do with their hoses and water it takes weeks for the water to dry out.
 
Yes he was very lucky it happened when it did!, one of the houses I cleared out the mum got out but the two young kids didnt
it was horrible having to clear that room out knowing what had happened in there, its still one of the only building jobs I wish I had
never taken on!.


On a lighter note while your cables were melting so was Rossi's tyre did you manage to get to see the rest of the GP?
 
Back
Top Bottom