Computer a fire-hazard?

[Cyrix_2k]

I can fairly safely say you have no experiance with invensting a few hundred thousand dollars of your own money. That is what they are trying to protect.

Totally understandable. It just annoys me when they're like "The computer that YOU built is a fire-hazard" and then they leave their coffee maker plugged in...

Of course they want to protect their home and the people in it... I just want them to learn the TRUTH about these products. They need to know what really IS a fire-hazard and what isn't a hazard.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

The only reason people get really good computers (that use low requirement / don't know anything about computers / etc..) is cause there old ones get overwhelmed with spyware (not knowing so or how to fix) so they get a good one hoping its not gonna be like the old one.

I never thought of it that way... Good point

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Think of it this way:

All those people buying equipment they don't need helps to bring the cost down so those of us who know its quality aren't paying ungodly high prices for it.

Well if they bought the low-end equipment that suits them best, then paid me %50 of what I saved them, then I'd be even more happy

 

[Sean Lindstrom]

Most residential electrical fires occur because the homeowners couldn't be bothered to upgrade their mains distribution. An extention cord is easier. Tucking it "out of the way" is easier. Then plugging a power bar on to that is easier. And so on. People get a new appliance (like a computer) but don't think to get a new outlet - certainly not a dedicated circuit - to service that appliance.

Not just the homeowner is to blame for these fires. Every couple decades we need more power in our homes than otherwise intelligent electricians thought necessary, and the building codes keep getting blown over by new technologies that run through walls (CAT5 most recently, but even central heating knocked us silly). Collectively, specialised professionals have turned the wall cavities and attics of older homes into boobytraps. No one link in the chain is bad, but the overall picture too often is a tangled chaos of pipes, ducts, and wires, half of them dead, every single one properly installed in its own day. Precious few tradespeople leave any slack for the future in their work. I've yet to meet an installer who thought along the lines of, "I'll put in this cablevision line now, but make it easy to replace with optical 20 years from now." or "This part of the basement might become a teenager's rec room; kids need extra juice." We march blind, just following the code.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Most residential electrical fires occur because the homeowners couldn't be bothered to upgrade their mains distribution. An extention cord is easier. Tucking it "out of the way" is easier. Then plugging a power bar on to that is easier. And so on. People get a new appliance (like a computer) but don't think to get a new outlet - certainly not a dedicated circuit - to service that appliance.

Not just the homeowner is to blame for these fires. Every couple decades we need more power in our homes than otherwise intelligent electricians thought necessary, and the building codes keep getting blown over by new technologies that run through walls (CAT5 most recently, but even central heating knocked us silly). Collectively, specialised professionals have turned the wall cavities and attics of older homes into boobytraps. No one link in the chain is bad, but the overall picture too often is a tangled chaos of pipes, ducts, and wires, half of them dead, every single one properly installed in its own day. Precious few tradespeople leave any slack for the future in their work. I've yet to meet an installer who thought along the lines of, "I'll put in this cablevision line now, but make it easy to replace with optical 20 years from now." or "This part of the basement might become a teenager's rec room; kids need extra juice." We march blind, just following the code.

Wow, what an insightful post While builder's often don't leave room for future improvements, my neighbor (not the worried about computer catching fire neighbor) did, since he built his own house. He used to build houses for a living and saw the problems that occured later on in the houses life.

 

[Sean Lindstrom]

Thanks, but that's ranting.

I renovate old houses, so I come in after a full century of quick fixes and installer moments, try to get the larger picture, clear the choking spiral of progress. I'm determined not to make the same mistakes.

If a hundred years ago we'd forseen the current evolution of domestic needs, I guess every house would've had empty 3" steel conduit run through all the walls. We could have fished everything through that. Let's see... telephone, mains, doorbell, antenna, thermostat, intercom, stereo speakers, burglar alarm, cablevision, sprinkler alarm, in-wall vacuum, LAN, isolated ground... what's next? At last century's rate, plenty.

People have more than just computers. We have computer workstations. We have computer rooms. Like nowadays every house has a kitchen. Of course you do all your cooking in a dedicated part of the house. These rapidly evolving heavy-use rooms consistently demand more robust and diverse services (e.g. electricity, lighting, plumbing, ventilation, and so on) than was imaginable. Maybe we've learned our lesson with kitchens, and we'll cease to burn houses down with inadequate and overworked kitchens. But what's our plan for home computing facilities? I see no plan at all. Make it smaller, make it portable, make it wireless. Put it on top of a desk like it were an adding machine or dictionary we can just stow back in the cupboard when we're done with it. Why? Because we haven't acknowledged that computers are here to stay and grow on us like kitchens. They're here like toilets. We may as well build our houses around computers, and build computers as the major appliances they are.

Otherwise we'll be repeating the same mistakes we made with previous technologies, and that'll cost us time and money and lives just as it always has before.

 

[corrosion231]

Most residential electrical fires occur because the homeowners couldn't be bothered to upgrade their mains distribution. An extention cord is easier. Tucking it "out of the way" is easier. Then plugging a power bar on to that is easier. And so on. People get a new appliance (like a computer) but don't think to get a new outlet - certainly not a dedicated circuit - to service that appliance.

Not just the homeowner is to blame for these fires. Every couple decades we need more power in our homes than otherwise intelligent electricians thought necessary, and the building codes keep getting blown over by new technologies that run through walls (CAT5 most recently, but even central heating knocked us silly). Collectively, specialised professionals have turned the wall cavities and attics of older homes into boobytraps. No one link in the chain is bad, but the overall picture too often is a tangled chaos of pipes, ducts, and wires, half of them dead, every single one properly installed in its own day. Precious few tradespeople leave any slack for the future in their work. I've yet to meet an installer who thought along the lines of, "I'll put in this cablevision line now, but make it easy to replace with optical 20 years from now." or "This part of the basement might become a teenager's rec room; kids need extra juice." We march blind, just following the code.

Yeah ignore the building code so it wont pass inspection, thats the way to go!

 

[t_biggs]

He meant that we follow the code only enough to meet it, not exceed it. He didn't mean we don't follow it at all and do whatever we feel like.

 

[Sean Lindstrom]

Yeah ignore the building code so it wont pass inspection, thats the way to go!

Never ignore the building code. Building codes represent the bare minimum for safety and use. Following code as if it were the ideal will yield mediocrity. If the height of your goal is to just pass inspection, then sure it's good enough. Go ahead and use the smallest, cheapest enclosures permissable, save a few dollars.

An example of building code inspired mediocrity I guess most homeowners are aware of is in the manner electricians typically label the main panel. Code requires the electrician to write a description of each circuit. So your typical panel is marked so:

1 - lights & plugs
3 - old room
5 - bedrm plugs & bath
7 - lights & plugs
9 - main plugs & kitchen
11 - new work
13 - lights & plugs

and so on. I've even seen certified sparkys write the same word "PWR" for each and every breaker, sometimes just "PWR" and then ditto marks below. Yeah, that's the code.

You're not required to go through an entire job with a digital camera, before the drywall goes up, and leave the revealing pictures in an envelope tucked beside the main panel. Why make work for yourself?

You're not required either, to guess where computer workstations are likely to evolve, and build with a future accumulation of wires in mind. Most won't. Well, let's see what happens.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

Happens in all the new developments. My dad calls them "cookie-cutter houses". They're all the same, and made extremely cheaply. Nothing is done above and beyond what is exepected. The builder just wants his $$$ and doesnt care about the quality of his housing. Sure, the house may be planned perfectly today, but what does the future hold?
They are now using flexible water-lines and flexible duct-work. What happens when this falls apart in the next 20 years? They're going to have to the pull the drywall off the wall to replace all these cheap materials.

 

[shard]

my house is over 100 years old and we just knock down walls and put newer and better ones back up, its pretty much "upgrading" our house! that is how you resolve problems in inefficient workmanship, just "upgrade" it! yah!

 

[Cyrix_2k]

my house is over 100 years old and we just knock down walls and put newer and better ones back up, its pretty much "upgrading" our house! that is how you resolve problems in inefficient workmanship, just "upgrade" it! yah!

How long did that take? My dad's friend did the same thing, only he did it himself. Took him like two years for his entire 200+ year old house.

anyway, My neighbor's parents don't seem to mind the computer anymore... Probably forgot about it.

 

[12am]

Seriously now, if you are this confident in the pc you sold why not tell your friends parents to take it to a REPUTABLE pc repair shop and have them inspect it. That way they can hear from their "technician with papers" that this computer is not about to burn thier house down.

 

[Salami_Joe]

Seriously now, if you are this confident in the pc you sold why not tell your friends parents to take it to a REPUTABLE pc repair shop and have them inspect it. That way they can hear from their "technician with papers" that this computer is not about to burn thier house down.

That is a very good idea.