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I could have had a big fat check from insurance


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So... my house almost burnt to the ground last night. I randomly woke up at 5:40AM and as I woke up my electrical outlet sparked a fire. If I wasn't awake that thing would have spread quickly. It was already about 1ft by 1ft fire up my wall. I was able to bat it out with a shirt I had laying around. It would have caught quick if I was sleeping. Kind of scary.

 

I actually thought for 1 split second to just put on clothes, grab important things and get out and just hope for a big insurance check. lol But I didn't b/c batting it out was kind of a natural response.

 

It's also sparked my interest in how well my smoke alarms are working. I think I'm going to go buy some new batteries and also put a new one near my basement stairs.

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yeah I would be checking all the electrical in the house after something like that happening. Good thing you are ok.

 

I'm going to replace the outlet, my brother's an electrician. He's probably going to stop by and look at it.

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'74 I believe.

 

Sounds like it could have those old and basically outlawed Federal breakers. My house in westerville had them. They tripped all the time, but I guess the reason they were discontinued was that they wouldn't trip at all and would simple allow the wiring to start a fire.

 

Once I found this out I was kinda surprised you could sell a house with those still in it. Mine even passed 2 FHA inspections:-)

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Mine was built in 52 but my breaker box looks updated and has a 1974 writing on it. So I guess it is from 74? My outlets are older then that though. They are not even grounded just the 2 prong outlets.

 

I found out my addition to my house has a ground setup with wires they ran. It looks different if I look at my breaker lines running up from the basement. It sounds weird but just installing a 3 prong outlet into them makes a ground. I even tested it with my UPS and it said it was grounded. The rest of the wires to the other part of my house don't look the same coming out the breaker so they can stay 2 prong for now.

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It's also sparked my interest in how well my smoke alarms are working. I think I'm going to go buy some new batteries and also put a new one near my basement stairs.

 

WOW....definitely thank someone for looking out for you. I'm paranoid about the possibility of fire. I guess I'm sensitive since my cousin had a fire take out his entire house while his family of 6 was sleeping. They all made it out alive, but it's not a good feeling to see your entire life and worldly possessions go up in flames.

 

Rebuilding is not that easy either since work, school and life continues to move on around you.

 

Definitely have the rest of the systems checked out and invest in good smoke alarms. I just bought all new units just in case. We have a combo of wired in units and battery operated units in the house.

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