preventable fires
 

IMHO a thorough home inspection should pick up any outlets that are not wired correctly. I watched 2 different inspectors on my last 2 home purchases test every outlet( including range and dryer). While this may not prevent 100% of all electrical fires, I'll bet it would catch 98% of the problems present at the time of the inspection.

Just a question??
 

The side by the POLO grounds where the last fire occured. When was that area built?? Asking because in the late 70 early 80 on Long Island we had Aluminum wiring being used. It was stopped after many fires some of which were deadly. Just asking. I know the new homes use copper just curious if the other side may have had aluminum. Also as I said earlier MAYBE the inspections are getting a little lax also in a few other posts people are also having electrical problems with there appliances.Just seems a little suspicious.But your right a breaker should break the circuit.

Good point Skip. Improper wiring can overheat. Even copper of the incorrect guage can overheat. The breaker will trip if too much current (amperage) is being drawn but the wiring can overheat without tripping the breaker.

The burned house you see on Canal was caused by a lightning strike.

Army Guy

Another electrical point. You could still have an overload on an extension cord that is rated for 8 amps but is plugged into a 15 amp recepticle. Remember the circuit breaker trips at 15 amps but you could have an awful lot of heat develop on an under-rated extension cord before the 15 amps is reached. The circuit breaker cant tell the difference between a normal load of say 10 amps and and a bunch of Christmas lights all daisy chained into this extension cord of 10 amps also.

Excellent point, yobeano. A lot of people seem to think the circuit breakers are a fool proof prevention of electrical overloads.

Consider a toaster. Plug it into a wall receptacle and turn it on. Those little wires inside get red hot, right? If you plug a string of Christmas tree lights into a receptacle then plug a toaster into the lights, turn on the toaster and guess what? The Christmas tree light cord turns red hot. That string of lights is not designed to carry the load imposed by a toaster.

The old adage "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" applies here.

I had one wired incorrectly in a former home. The outlet went unused for years. When finally used for a floor lamp it burned the bulb immediately. After about three bulbs I called in an expert. He discovered the 110 outlet was wired for 220 instead of 110. Something about the ground prong (bare wire) being wired hot. Had I not discovered it right away it could have been serious.