Hi and welcome, it has been a pretty traumatic week for all Australians with the extensive heat wave we have all experienced over the last week. My sympathies go out to everyone that has lost homes and property due to the fires – I wish I could have added naturally occurring fires but unfortunately some of the fires have been started deliberately and that is such a disappointing occurrence.
That said the topic of my blog this week is not the bushfires but something a little more close to home and in theme with the heat wave of last week air-conditioning systems. We need them; we love them especially when the temperature gauge starts to climb but again we have to be careful at least 41 fires have been started by ageing air-conditioners in the last two years alone and very rarely do small fires result, this type of fire spreads though a house very quickly.
I watched horrified on the news last week as a house in Mentone caught fire, fortunately they were woken by their daughter as the house filled with smoke coming from air-conditioning ducts. The family has had to find alternative accommodation. It’s believed the fire started in the evaporative cooling system.
A build-up of dust and leaves in cooler months, followed by the prolonged use of cooling units during summer, increases the likelihood of a fire.
There have been cases where [the air conditioners] would have reached the high 50s, especially as we come into these heatwaves, and they can be on non-stop ( I know mine were) , but if they haven’t been maintained and serviced correctly … wear and tear can add to the risk.”
We should remember that a number of these units haven’t been utilised for 12 months. You can’t just turn them on and not expect problems.
It is vital that you service your air conditioner before you start to crank it up and use it through summer and if water pumps have corroded over winter and you go to use them, if they seize up or burn out then you can end up with a fire very quickly.
The very nature of ducted air-conditioning is that if a fire starts, the fan is pushing that fire down through the ducts into pretty much every room in your house, so you can have a fire spread through a house very quickly.”
Obviously, smoke alarms and fire sprinkler systems are going to save lives and property but do you really want to be in that situation…. Food for thought eh!
……….. ‘Til the next time Greg