Potty Page

November 28, 2006

So you've tested your smoke alarm recently, right?

On Sunday the nice men a the firestation came and put a leaflet through our door.

There have been a number of serious, accidental house fires in your area recently! Don't leave your home of your life at risk. Book your free home safety check now!

So, I was listening to some choonage earlier this evening... and then the speakers went dead. "Bollocks", I thought to myself, "I've knocked the bloody plug out of the back of the sub again!". So I went under the table and plugged it back in... woo noise once more! I happened to notice that smell you get when PCBs are getting too hot. Bearing in mind the fan on my chipset is a bit dodgy I thought "shit"... and turned off my PC, ripped it apart to see what was up... and nothing was!

So... anyways... then I noticed this loud humming noise...

"Hmm... speakers are humming, must be because they're up load and the input is floating"

I turn them off... still a big hummm.

Then I saw fire come from within the sub.

"SHIT"

I unplugged it and ran downstairs with it shouting to Chris to open the frontdoor. Clearly, if it was ClaudeStreet I'd be shouting get the camera!

So, what's the damage?

The bottom the of the PCB inside the subwoofer
The big chip thing that set on fire on the top of the PCB

Hmmm, charcoal.

We've since tested the case to see if I'd not been here whether the house would have gone up - we've come to the conclusion "probably not", 'cause although the plastic did burn it took a shed load of heat to get it going.

Chris also wondered why the smoke alarm hadn't gone off... and tested it with a recently extingushed candle... nothing... so I think the fire service might be getting a call so they can fit us with a free replacement.

Go check your smoke alarm, it might save your life. No, right now. Stop reading...

Posted by Ed at November 28, 2006 7:49 PM | Ramble |