# Fire Extinguisher: $10.  Still having your shop:  Almost priceless.



## Bushytails (Sep 30, 2008)

And this is why I make sure every building has an easily accessible fire extinguisher - and why you should too.

Relatively new heater, no signs of problems.  Leave it running, go in the house a minute.  Come back, open door, find wall of black smoke.  The smoke was so thick that I couldn't even find the fire until I was about 3ft from it, despite foot high flames.  After putting it out (in the dark, as I couldn't see a fucking thing in that smoke), I went back in with my 100W halogen spotlight to make sure it was out, and couldn't see more than 2ft - the beam just vanished.  

WHAT KIND OF MOTHER FUCKING MORON MAKES A HEATER OUT OF FLAMMABLE PLASTIC?!  It was even made in USA, before someone thinks of a racial slur to answer that with.

You would think something with a nice hot heating element would be made out of a material that wouldn't burn, or would at least self-extinguish... but nope!  Took about half of a full fire extinguisher to put the plastic out.  

Most of my other heaters are made of metal.  And after this, they all will be.


Now, how do I clean the place up?  Every single surface is black, and the stench is horrible.  Floor, walls, ceiling, doors, workbench, rugs, fixtures, tools, lumber, etc, etc, etc...  all black.  Any ideas?


--Bushytails


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## Animal (Sep 30, 2008)

The reason they don't make them out of plastic is,Lawsuits!!

Make them pay for the trouble, they designed it, let em have it. 
Glad to see your still alive and your garage is too.

It even says on the box, NO overheating, apparently they need to redesign the box.


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## Stann (Oct 1, 2008)

Wow, you should definitely contact the company and let them know what happened. If you can somehow show them the pictures of the damage in your shop.

Glad you ok. It's a definite bummer, but at least you still have some grounds to work with.

As for the rugs, I think those are garbage now. I don't see those being salvageable.


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## Jeff (Oct 2, 2008)

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Bushy, what a mess.  Unfortunately, I am sure most of the mess is the smoke damage not shown in the pictures.  It is nasty stuff.  I have used TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) for cleaning up after a fire.  It helps eliminate the smell that can penetrate deep into surfaces, and removes smoke stains as well.  It should be available at most hardware stores. It is strong and caustic so be careful.    Good Luck.

ps. TSP was recommended to me by a firefighter when my stepdaughter burnt down 1/2 our house about ten years ago.  She was playing with matches.


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## cnyeco1 (Apr 10, 2009)

I always keep a close eye on anything plastic, (heaters and fans). I've had a few that went up in smoke that I just happen to catch. I'm going to keep that picture and show it to my wife so she can see what happens when you leave stuff on while you are gone.


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## dezigninmotion (Jul 31, 2009)

cnyeco1 said:


> I always keep a close eye on anything plastic, (heaters and fans). I've had a few that went up in smoke that I just happen to catch. I'm going to keep that picture and show it to my wife so she can see what happens when you leave stuff on while you are gone.



I know this is off topic but to you have a large format version of your profile image.  I would love to have that hanging in my garage!


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