Photos of my house fire...aquarium put it out.

[AqCons]

I had a fire in my house. The fire investigator said the power strip which was the coralife power center started the fire. The aquarium eventually melted and put out the fire.

We were not home at the time. We live out in the country and our neighbor's are too far from us to notice if there was a fire until it was too late. Also, it took the volunteer fire department 30-40 minutes to get there.

We would have lost everything if the aquarium wouldn't have put the fire out.

Tammy

Here's some photos.

Sorry, but I don't know how to post the photo, you have to click on the link.

 

[AqCons]

The last photo was of the master bathroom which was down the hall, from the fire and through the master bedroom. It just shows the soot and smoke damage. We will be out of our house for about 2 1/2 months.

 

[melev]

Wow, I'm sorry to see all this. The damage to your home isn't extensive, but it will take a lot of work to clean everything up again.

How much livestock did you lose in the fire?

 

[NwG]

Aqcons, I looked at the pics in the other thread... downright scary..
truely sorry for your loss... may I ask what the fire department had to say? You mentioned they said many fires were caused by power strips.. But did they say weather or not most were caused by the product or user error?

 

[CluelessFish]

Wow, that is scary. Would you mind letting me know which unit was the cause of it? I know you had indicated the culprit as being the coralife equipment but can you tell me which specific lighting unit? Sorry if I am asking too many questions but I have a coralife halide myself and seeing your pictures of the fire damage just send chills down my spine.
Thank you in advance.

cluelessfish

 

[moosejac]

I have a power center as well...making me a little nervous. Do you think it was a faulty power strip, or did it get wet or something?

 

[NwG]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=580767

 

[Northside Reef]

Very scary, I am glad no one was hurt. I hope you and your family are back in your home as soon as possible.

Thank you for sharing I hope this warning can prevent others from the same fate.

NorthSideââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦

 

[AqCons]

They didn't say wether it was more user error or not. He did say he sees an awful lot of powerstrip fires with saltwater aquariums vs. freshwater.

Clueless fish: it was the Coralife Power Center - single timer.

Moosejac - I know without a doubt that I did not get it wet. This is a fairly new powercenter. I only had it a couple of months and it's been at least that long since a waterchange. I know, I know, I had not been very diligent lately about waterchanges but everything was doing great.

 

[mhurley]

Fixed your pics for ya.
Scary stuff, glad nobody was hurt and the damage was limited to what it was.

 

[Entropy]

Wow! That is very scary. I cannot believe it melted the tank. Glad your family is ok!

 

[gallery]

AgCons sorry for the loss i know how bad a house fire can be we had an electricel fire a few years back. thanks for the input on the plug strip though. my wife picked me up one a few months ago from VA. although i havent had any problems with it i just changed it out with another brand i had. no sence taking any chances.

 

[i-b-reef-n]

Sorry to hear about this - but it's good to know that the tank can do something good for a change instead of always being the cause of problems

 

[bdblkta]

very wierd the aquarium metlted. you can boil water in a paper cup over an open camp fire.

 

[Sloth]

Does the TV still work?

 

[AqCons]

Thanks for fixing the pics.

I never really like acrylic aquariums because they're so easy to scratch. But I'm glad that's what I had in the office!

 

[chewie70]

Hey Aqcons,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Just for your info and anyone else that uses these powerstrips, this is not a one time thing. I have 3 of those that I immediately pulled off my system when one day I noticed the case at the last 2 plugs on the opposite end of the timer had changed form and started to shrivel up. Upon further inspection, I realized that those to outlets had almost fused together which gave me a reality check as to how close I had come to having my house burn down. You might want to check into it beause you may have a case against the manufacturer. Good luck and don't give up on the tank.

 

[AqCons]

No, sorry the TV no longer works. Maybe with a little restoration someone could get it going...want to give it a try?

The morning of the fire I woke up and smelled something burning. I checked everything out in the house and found nothing so I kind of thought that the heat kicked on and made the house smell a little or something. The smell wasn't very strong at all. The fire investigator said it was probably the power strip starting to smoke.

Chewie, have you reported this to ESU? I emailed them and I'm going to call today.

The fire investigator said the problem with suing because of a faulty power strip is difficult because the mfg. usually say that it is user error...overloaded, saltwater in the outlets, etc. It's hard to prove you didn't get saltwater in the outlets when everything is burned up.

 

[moo]

Wow...I'm sorry to hear. I hope everything works out for you.

I was just thinking about how dangerous my setup can be. With all the surges, timers, lights, powerheads, etc. I need to do some research to see if my setup is really safe.

Thank you for the wake up call...and again, I'm sorry...I hope everything works out for you.

 

[dr.darkness]

I myself have had prblems with this power strip also the timer its self would lock up and remain on. Power strips and outlets don't get along with salt it's a dangeress combo even a little bit of salt can cause a fire,so fellow aquariust becareful. The best thing to do is cover your power strip with a plastic bag like the one your live stock comes in. Sorry about your loss AqCons.