Postby jclay (RIP 2018) » 05 Oct 2014 17:26
It is worth your money to buy a good one with a circuit breaker!
Duncan Woods lost all three of his classic Triumph, not to mention his house year when his charger went south and put 120 volts through his battery.
<i>"IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO ME ...
~ Submitted by John Macartney
NO ONE EVER EXPECTS THINGS TO GO WRONG …
But they do and at the worst possible time. In this case it was the total loss of a classic car
collection. An award-winning 1935 Southern Cross "Gloria" (1 of 14 known to exist), a 1971
Triumph Stag and a Triumph Dolomite.
So, what's the story?
On Thursday, November 8, 2012, a fire broke out in the home of Duncan and Sheila Wood, a
suburban Dallas couple and members of Garagistry. Thankfully they were able to escape the fire
unharmed; but the fire consumed their entire home and its contents. Unfortunately, this included
the garage holding their three Classic vehicles.
When the fire was out, all that remained were their burnt out shells, twisted piles of steel beyond
recognition.
The fire also destroyed everything associated with their collection of Classics, including photos,
documents, receipts, trophies and awards. To make matters worse the owners found their
personal computer burnt to a crisp, the contents beyond recovery.
What makes this story important to you is the tragic irony involved. Not more than 3 weeks prior to
the fire, the classic owners joined Garagistry. Unfortunately, they had not yet uploaded their
photos, documents, restoration records, receipts to the secure storage provided. Why?
Because they never truly thought something like this would ever happen.
""We had just returned from a Texas competition event and I was having battery problems while in
Galveston, so when we got back home I installed a new battery and connected it to a trickle
charger."
"We were watching TV later that evening, when we heard crackling noises coming from the
garage. When we opened a door to the garage, we were met with a wall of flames. The fire had
already spread to the attic and was moving from one end of the house to the other.""
So, What Happened?
""Apparently a diode in the charger unit failed, causing full household
current to flow into the new battery. It quickly overheated
causing the battery to erupt into flames", he said.
The temperature where the Gloria was located was rated at
between 1600 and 1800 degrees, hot enough to vaporize every
aluminum part of the car. Nothing but steel parts remained, but
so badly warped by the heat, they were lost as well.""
To make the loss just a little more painful, Duncan's collection of
tools and machinery used to maintain or restore his Classics were lost as well.
"At least we're safe and unharmed. The cars can be replaced, we can't be", Duncan observed.
Lessons Learned ?
<font color="red"><b>When asked what other lessons Duncan had learned from this experience, this is what he told us:
EVERY garage should have a smoke alarm and the alarm should be linked to the home's alarm.
There is no guarantee you will hear the garage alarm if you are located at the other end of the house.
ANY charger unit should be plugged into a power strip unit with a built-in circuit breaker.
A short in the charger would have tripped the breaker and the household current would not have
overloaded the battery.
Classic car owners should consider having a sprinkler system installed in the garage.
For new construction, the $1-1.50 per square foot cost to have sprinklers installed is worth the greatly
reduced risk of fire damage.</b></font id="red">
What's Next?
Construction crews were already making great progress
rebuilding their home and with a true classic car owner's
attitude, he is headed to England to purchase one of the now
remaining thirteen 1935 Gloria's. We wish Duncan and Sheila
the best of luck!"
</i>
Clay
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