byrdr1
02-23-2013, 10:52 AM
Mods move what ever forum it fits:
long story.
Thursday night I go to camper and get my laptop to do taxes. I open it up and turn on a electric heater on the sink counter top. I only open the rocking chair slide side about a foot in order to get LT by the TV. its been there since last trip(Nov 2012).
in my haste and it was cold in camper I turned the heater on figuring I will do something in the camper for few minutes. few minutes later leave the camper head back into house. start working on taxes... forward Friday am as I am backing out the driveway and they are calling for ice and sleet and I am in hurry to get to work before something happens to the roads, I see the slide out about a foot. No problem the slide out awning will protect it from any water. to work I go..
Friday pm get home and see the slide and think I need to close that thing up before the next rain showers come in. Open the door and I am greeted by the most obnoxious odor. whats that smell, I look toward the electric heater and it is melted onto the counter top.
OH Crap and few other words. I proceed to the area and unplug the melted cord from the outlet. the electric fire was out but still had juice(another problem the GFI should have kicked the power off but had not).
I toss the stuff out the door, call the wife to report this damage. Counter top is fried all along the power cord line where it had laid on the counter top. The sink has a hole burnt in it on the corner. Camper has soot all over the living/dining area. I am POed about it but in the next breath I am grateful no more damage was done.
The electric heater was plugged in to the outlet to the left of the stove. It had been plugged into the outlet by the floor with the cord running along the baseboard of the sink cabinet(IE carpet).
Also if the slide would have been all the way I had CWorld bag full of towels and stuff from last trip sitting in one of the dinette chairs. This would have been right against the cord set and/or close enough based on the burn pattern to have caught fire also. The carpet would have caught fire had the cord been on the floor.
So all in all...I was very lucky I still have my camper today. it smells inside and I have a nice designer counter top. NO electric heater anymore(Laxsco/Lansco tower brand).
BUT the bottom line is I have my camper and my house. the camper sits beside my house near my carport. If camper had gone up the carport could have too. Wife's car under carport, then the house with my two 4 legged kids inside it..
SO what do I do today after a not so restful night thinking and dreaming about the what if's. I clean everything up and that took me around 2 hours of dusting with furniture polish and several rags, they all turned black as I was wiping everything down. Cleaned the burnt soot from the counter top and have asked my dealer for a price for new counter top and a sink. I can live with the sink problem and counter top but it sure it looks like crap. So I am hoping the dealer can get me a price, if not I will do something, counter top is stapled to the cabinet. I can get it off but would like to replace with same or close to it material. I'll post a picture tomorrow when it warms up. I have had an electric heater in my campers ever since I have had power to them, never turned up over 40 degrees, unless I was inside the camper. Still not sure what happened, BUT!
just had to vent and share with my cyber friends..
Take care and be careful...
randy
long story.
Thursday night I go to camper and get my laptop to do taxes. I open it up and turn on a electric heater on the sink counter top. I only open the rocking chair slide side about a foot in order to get LT by the TV. its been there since last trip(Nov 2012).
in my haste and it was cold in camper I turned the heater on figuring I will do something in the camper for few minutes. few minutes later leave the camper head back into house. start working on taxes... forward Friday am as I am backing out the driveway and they are calling for ice and sleet and I am in hurry to get to work before something happens to the roads, I see the slide out about a foot. No problem the slide out awning will protect it from any water. to work I go..
Friday pm get home and see the slide and think I need to close that thing up before the next rain showers come in. Open the door and I am greeted by the most obnoxious odor. whats that smell, I look toward the electric heater and it is melted onto the counter top.
OH Crap and few other words. I proceed to the area and unplug the melted cord from the outlet. the electric fire was out but still had juice(another problem the GFI should have kicked the power off but had not).
I toss the stuff out the door, call the wife to report this damage. Counter top is fried all along the power cord line where it had laid on the counter top. The sink has a hole burnt in it on the corner. Camper has soot all over the living/dining area. I am POed about it but in the next breath I am grateful no more damage was done.
The electric heater was plugged in to the outlet to the left of the stove. It had been plugged into the outlet by the floor with the cord running along the baseboard of the sink cabinet(IE carpet).
Also if the slide would have been all the way I had CWorld bag full of towels and stuff from last trip sitting in one of the dinette chairs. This would have been right against the cord set and/or close enough based on the burn pattern to have caught fire also. The carpet would have caught fire had the cord been on the floor.
So all in all...I was very lucky I still have my camper today. it smells inside and I have a nice designer counter top. NO electric heater anymore(Laxsco/Lansco tower brand).
BUT the bottom line is I have my camper and my house. the camper sits beside my house near my carport. If camper had gone up the carport could have too. Wife's car under carport, then the house with my two 4 legged kids inside it..
SO what do I do today after a not so restful night thinking and dreaming about the what if's. I clean everything up and that took me around 2 hours of dusting with furniture polish and several rags, they all turned black as I was wiping everything down. Cleaned the burnt soot from the counter top and have asked my dealer for a price for new counter top and a sink. I can live with the sink problem and counter top but it sure it looks like crap. So I am hoping the dealer can get me a price, if not I will do something, counter top is stapled to the cabinet. I can get it off but would like to replace with same or close to it material. I'll post a picture tomorrow when it warms up. I have had an electric heater in my campers ever since I have had power to them, never turned up over 40 degrees, unless I was inside the camper. Still not sure what happened, BUT!
just had to vent and share with my cyber friends..
Take care and be careful...
randy