Do you turn off the Water and Electricity where you are away

Neil!! The problem is most new equipment has electronic switches, so all is needed is a electrical spike or blackout to set the appliances into action.. It is a trap!! Michael

Where house fires are attributed to "an electrical fault" it is almost always a connected appliance to blame. Exceptions may be very old wiring or unapproved wiring. So it should be safe to leave the power on for fridges, security etc. but remove plugs from wall sockets for all other appliances.

Allan - True, but there's always the odd electrical fire caused by vermin in the ceiling, chewing on wires, too.
When my house burnt down, it was entirely due to the power suppliers fault. The 3 phase lines running past my house in a small country town, were not tight enough, and on a windy day with strong gusts, one of the phase wires was flung up and over the neutral wire. This put 90V into the neutral wire.

I was 90kms away, working all day, and every regular electrical item in the house was on - fridges, HWS, etc. I also had a clock radio on, alongside my bed. The combined over-voltage of 330V, set fire to the clock radio, and the resultant flames set fire to the curtains. I came home on dark to find I had no house.

The fireys got there in 8 mins after the smoke was spotted, but with a timber frame house, they were behind the 8-ball, it was well alight. They switched off the power by pulling the fuses out of the switchboard, and started to pull sheets of iron off the roof - and they got lots of sparks!

The electrical inspector turned up next morning, checked the wiring and found the 90 volts registering on the neutral wire! He said nothing and just went away. Just days after the fire, they replaced all the transmission line wiring up the street.
I still don't understand how the circuit breakers back down the line didn't pop out when the lines twitched up. I suspect there was a fault in their protection system somewhere.

Cheers - Ron.

Ron,
I got to ask..Did the power supplier rebuild/repair your house?


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Stu & "Bob" - Nope. In those days (1982), you couldn't sue electricity suppliers (such as the SEC of W.A. my supplier) for supply faults or negligence. I got a pretty miserable payout from my own insurer, and had to be satisfied with that.

Now, here's the rub. If you recall the Ash Wednesday bushfires of the following year, 1983 - you probably know that many of the victims of those disastrous fires sued their local electricity suppliers in a class action, for negligence - and won.

QUOTE - "Melbourne barrister Tim Tobin, QC, successfully represented hundreds of victims of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires in a class action against the State Electricity Commission.
The statutory authority was forced to pay out more than $300 million to more than 5000 claimants, after clashing power lines were found to have caused fires at Mount Macedon, north of Melbourne, and Warrnambool, in the state's West." END QUOTE

Now, perhaps if I had employed a local Philadelphia lawyer - and was able to mount a class action with others - I might have been able to set a precedent and win some compensation from my electricity supplier.
As it was, I was unaware that there was even a ghost of a chance of sueing the SEC of W.A., so I never even thought about proceeding with any legal action against them.

The problem is of course, is that only after a fire, are you aware of the procedures you could have employed to protect irreplaceable items such as photos, mementos, trophies, heirlooms, etc etc. - and even compensation from the SEC of W.A. wouldn't have helped replace them. However, a heap of additional compensation certainly would have helped.

Cheers - Ron.

Good on you vk1dx for making arrangements for such good care and responsible care of your cats while you are away. I agree wholeheartedly - if you take on a pet -it is for the life of the pet.
We too have an indoor cat - she is 16 now and nearing the end of her life..but we always make sure she has the best possible care (she has arthritiis in her rear legs).
Your comments warmed my heart.
Cheers

Thanks

And that goes for dogs as well. But we have a soft heart for the cats. They have an uncanny way of smooching and being on your lap when you are down. The dogs we have had in the past, while very loyal, alert and full of joy, never seemed to have that "knowing". And I have been down many times.

They do not deserve to freeze or boil while we are away.

Have a good one.

Phil

Michael - I knew a farmer who built a new house, moved in - and then shortly after, went on Summer holidays for 3 weeks to the South Coast.
He locked the house up thoroughly, and turned the power and taps to the washing machine and dishwasher off.

When he returned, he was greeted by water, 500mm deep inside the house! - seeping and leaking from a glass sliding doorway in the house! He saw the water level against the glass sliding doors, as he approached the house!

What had happened, was, the plumbers had silver-soldered two sections of copper pipe together, and then inserted the joined section inside the cavity wall (double brick and tile house).

However, the plumbers hadn't tested their silver-soldered join! It was leaking - enough to fill the wall cavities -and then most of the rest of the rooms in the house - to 500mm deep, in the 3 weeks the owner was away!

Because the house was fully locked and all doors were new and tight-fitting - the water swelled the wooden doors and sealed them even better! Only the glass sliding door was leaking, and it wasn't enough to release any volume of water! The bathroom door had been left shut, so the water couldn't get away from the bathroom floor drain.

The inside of the house was a complete disaster zone! All the kitchen cupboards had to ripped out and replaced, all the floor coverings the same - even the beds had to be replaced. Most of the furniture he'd moved in was binned. It was a very expensive repair bill, and the builders insurance company had to pick up the tab!

Cheers - Ron.