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Good evening to you, delighted to join your group.
May I introduce myself. I am a Fire Investigator with the London Fire Brigade. Every year in the UK we average about 400 serious fires confirmed as Fridge/Freezer incidents. We only get to see the appliances which have actually ignited and we are keen to gather information on specific failings whch have not yet led to a fire developing. One Common specific failure appears to be related to PTC starter switches, this pattern is most prevelant in appliances that are over 12 years old. We commonly find applainces in excess of 15 years old and many people regard a fridge/freezer as something to use until it breaks. I have looked through this site on many occasions and note the comments from several of your Engineers on crispy casings and would be most grateful for contact either on or off line to help us with a better understanding of failure.
MikeRe: Fridge/Freezer Fires
The old PTC starters burning out isn’t uncommon Mike and it seems to be caused by heat from what I’ve seen. To be fair I haven’t seen or replaced one in a few years now but I can’t recall one ever actually igniting. It’s been close though.
The old Danfoss type relays and klixons used to go as well, usually with a flash but seldom, in my experience, igniting.
The new ones I’ve not seen or heard any particular issues with.
We do get issues where the cabinet isn’t properly ventilated though with overheating, extremely common on integrated units especially as kitchen fitters seem incapable of reading the installation instructions. Normally that would manifest itself fairly quickly if it was a real issue but I have seen cases where it hasn’t been apparent for some years.
Almost all major appliances are used until they fail and are then either repaired until the next failure or scrapped and replaced. There is no regular maintenance carried out anymore although sometimes I think there ought to be.
Hope that helps a little.
K.
Re: Fridge/Freezer Fires
On average I would have guessed that other appliances were more prone to fires, for instance tumble dryers not being de linted, leaking washing machines, dishwashers etc.
I wouldnt have put fridge freezers high on my list. Ok the odd defrost heater???
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