thedoc08
New Member
I'm not sure where to start, so I guess I'll give some background. I'm doing a little horticulture in my closet, my appliances are a 216w T5 HO fluorescent system, and a standard window fan. They are plugged into a timer that is on 18 hours a day from 11AM until 5AM. My TV is also plugged into the same strip, but I don't think that's relevant. What may be relevant is the fact that this is an extra cheapass strip, that probably doesn't have a surge protector feature.
My house is old and has shitty current rating, so we're constantly tripping breakers when we turn the AC on without turning off lights, fans, and upstairs bedroom TVs.
Last night we just had one buddy up for the 4 man Tiger Woods: sober, high, and drunk competition because the 4 of us are beast at the game. We were in the living room which is upstairs, and the bedroom this took place in is adjacent to the living room. I guess that's all the background that's important.
Last night we started our competition pretty early, maybe 4 or 5 PM, played 36 holes sober, then we each smoked an 8th of Trainwreck and played another 36 holes. Took a break for some Domino's (delivery driver literally said "looks like someone's got a case of the munchies"), waited like an hour to not be high, and started slamming brews for the drunk competition. Took about 2.5 hours for the last person to finish their half of a 30 rack, and then we played another 36 holes.
At this point it was still pretty early, maybe 10 to 11ish. My living room mini-fridge only holds about 70 beers, so after killing 60, we were effectively out of beer. Decided to go with screwdrivers because we had plenty of vodka and plenty of OJ. Made a full pitcher, it got crushed in a half hour. I was downstairs in the kitchen making the second full pitcher when our buddy turned the AC on and tripped the breaker.
The breaker box is in the garage, which is off of the kitchen, which is where I fortunately (or unfortunately) was. I went to the garage and flipped the breaker, upstairs they didn't know to turn the AC off with the power out because the start up current draws takes a heavy toll. So I fixed the breaker, finished making OJ, and head upstairs.
I make it to the living room when the circuit breaks again. I turn the AC off and go reset the breaker, then head back up to the living room.
We start smelling like burned plastic, then someone sees a flicker from my room. I didn't think much of it, because occasionally one of my T5 bulbs would do that for a few seconds. When I start hearing pops I get up to investigate. Stumble into my room, notice the T5 lights are off, then immediately notice the fire on my ground.
The surge protector (that lacked a surge protector) was plugged in, and on fire near where the chord meets the strip. It was doing a mild serpentine pattern, like you see downed powerlines do in movies. I didn't want to unplug it because I don't know much about electricity.
Decided to go down to the garage and kill the breaker. Garage is pitch-black, and I didn't think to turn the light on before I made a dash to the breaker box. Apparently I forget that a 6ft step ladder was in the immediate line from the door to the breaker box and ran head first into it. It fell in the same direction I was running, my legs got all tangled up in it, I went down....hard. From what I think I remember, I tucked my head into my left shoulder, and tried to fall on my right. I guess that worked pretty well because I'm not too sore from the fall.
Anyhow, I make it up, pissed, in pain, and with a house that could be potentially burning down. Got to the breaker box to find that the breaker for upstairs had already blown on its own. I head back upstairs (a little more carefully this time) to find everyone in my room half assed celebrating.
I believe this picture shows their brilliant strategy for putting out an electrical fire.
and this is the ladder that almost killed me.
My house is old and has shitty current rating, so we're constantly tripping breakers when we turn the AC on without turning off lights, fans, and upstairs bedroom TVs.
Last night we just had one buddy up for the 4 man Tiger Woods: sober, high, and drunk competition because the 4 of us are beast at the game. We were in the living room which is upstairs, and the bedroom this took place in is adjacent to the living room. I guess that's all the background that's important.
Last night we started our competition pretty early, maybe 4 or 5 PM, played 36 holes sober, then we each smoked an 8th of Trainwreck and played another 36 holes. Took a break for some Domino's (delivery driver literally said "looks like someone's got a case of the munchies"), waited like an hour to not be high, and started slamming brews for the drunk competition. Took about 2.5 hours for the last person to finish their half of a 30 rack, and then we played another 36 holes.
At this point it was still pretty early, maybe 10 to 11ish. My living room mini-fridge only holds about 70 beers, so after killing 60, we were effectively out of beer. Decided to go with screwdrivers because we had plenty of vodka and plenty of OJ. Made a full pitcher, it got crushed in a half hour. I was downstairs in the kitchen making the second full pitcher when our buddy turned the AC on and tripped the breaker.
The breaker box is in the garage, which is off of the kitchen, which is where I fortunately (or unfortunately) was. I went to the garage and flipped the breaker, upstairs they didn't know to turn the AC off with the power out because the start up current draws takes a heavy toll. So I fixed the breaker, finished making OJ, and head upstairs.
I make it to the living room when the circuit breaks again. I turn the AC off and go reset the breaker, then head back up to the living room.
We start smelling like burned plastic, then someone sees a flicker from my room. I didn't think much of it, because occasionally one of my T5 bulbs would do that for a few seconds. When I start hearing pops I get up to investigate. Stumble into my room, notice the T5 lights are off, then immediately notice the fire on my ground.
The surge protector (that lacked a surge protector) was plugged in, and on fire near where the chord meets the strip. It was doing a mild serpentine pattern, like you see downed powerlines do in movies. I didn't want to unplug it because I don't know much about electricity.
Decided to go down to the garage and kill the breaker. Garage is pitch-black, and I didn't think to turn the light on before I made a dash to the breaker box. Apparently I forget that a 6ft step ladder was in the immediate line from the door to the breaker box and ran head first into it. It fell in the same direction I was running, my legs got all tangled up in it, I went down....hard. From what I think I remember, I tucked my head into my left shoulder, and tried to fall on my right. I guess that worked pretty well because I'm not too sore from the fall.
Anyhow, I make it up, pissed, in pain, and with a house that could be potentially burning down. Got to the breaker box to find that the breaker for upstairs had already blown on its own. I head back upstairs (a little more carefully this time) to find everyone in my room half assed celebrating.
I believe this picture shows their brilliant strategy for putting out an electrical fire.
and this is the ladder that almost killed me.
