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How scary about your dishwasher!! (10 days old?! - what`s wrong with appliances these days??) Thank goodness you`re both okay.
I shared your story with my husband since he sometimes turns the dishwasher on when we go to sleep at night. Obviously that won`t happen anymore.
We are also guilty of putting the dishwasher on at night, but certainly won't do it again!!!
A quick update... it turns out it was the wiring in the house that actually caused the fire, and not the dishwasher. I was relieved because I really LIKE the dishwasher and didn't want to choose a different one! : )
Thanks everyone, for all of your concern! : )
How do you REALLY know for sure the wiring in a house is okay??? I`m so paranoid about that!
JennRenee, if you don`t mind, do you know what was wrong with the wiring? (Not like I`m an electrician).
in last month's issue I think. I saved it, but it's packed with the moving stuff. I think it was refering to some older houses, maybe built in the 60's, that had aluminum wiring instead of copper, and how they had a tendancy to overheat. I plan to check our house once we move in. I'll try to find the article, but you might be able to go to www.rd.com and do a search...
and for all homebuyers you should as well--goes back to my warning a few weeks back about renters insurance--that was an electrical fire---a lot of people dont get teh electrical checked when they are looking at a potential house but you should-- we are not cautious people at all but we spent a ton of money on inspections(not just the regular one that eveyone does) because you are putting your life into this house nad it was worth the few thousand dollars to ensure we would be 'ok'----although the one thing we checked is the one thing we have replaced already--go figure!!
Laura
PS I havent been on in a while and didnt hear/read about the fire-- so sorry to hear about that
Okay, I'm no electrician, but from my layman's point of view (and what Patrick told me), here's what happened...
The previous owners wired the kitchen through a junction box (whatever that is) in the wall, and wires were loose in it. The wires then heated up to the point where they caught fire. Apparently the wires had been melting for a while before we had the fire, and the new dishwasher had nothing to do with it ~ it was just a matter of time before this happened, and there was no way for us to have seen it coming. Patrick's cousin, who is an electrician, fixed the wires for us, and we did a quick fix of the wall. There was no point in replacing it, since we will be redoing the kitchen within the next 6 months or so.
I hope you understood this, because I made Pat explain it in the simplest terms possible so I could understand and explain it better. : )
electrical system and all other components should be inspected before you buy the house. check out www.IslaEngineering.com for info.
Our engineer checked outlets for grounding, and that sort of thing, but short of tearing down the plaster or drywall, wouldn't it be difficult to determine what type of wiring was used throughout the walls? What did your engineer do to determine that?
certain parts of a hous have exposed wiring-- well some do --for instance our basement was finished but the laundry room had exposed celings-- same for the garage--- so those are both potential places to have an electriciam check-- we had an electrician come in because the reualr inspector noticed wirirg and got us nervous-- so we did it as a precaution
Laura
