Fire from neon light transformer

[wyboy]

I saw a fire where an abandoned neon light transformer had a live wire on the secondary side. Could such a wire, in contact with wood over a long period of time, cause a high resistance ground and heat combustibles until ignited? I can?t see what else caused the fire. (It was put out before much damage was done.)

 

[LarryFine]

Having a few neon transformers, some with a 15kv output, I can say, yes, they certainly can start fires.

 

[hurk27]

I saw a fire where an abandoned neon light transformer had a live wire on the secondary side. Could such a wire, in contact with wood over a long period of time, cause a high resistance ground and heat combustibles until ignited? I can?t see what else caused the fire. (It was put out before much damage was done.)

Yes, neon transformers are very dangerous, the secondaries are required to be installed in a metal raceway or FMC, just to prevent this from happening when the GTO cable breaks down, even a 120 volt to ground wire against wood will cause the wood over time to turn to carbon and start small arc tracks which will cause a fire, this is called pyro-carbonization, with the neon transformer this can happen at much faster rate, I have seen many fires caused by un protected GTO cables from neon systems, and it is very important to remove not only the supply but to remove the transformer to prevent it from being energized accidentally.

 

[mxslick]

Wayne is correct: If you search for the report on the MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas, the root cause was a damaged flex whip to the pie cooler display case which exposed conductors in direct contact with wood, which over a period of time, pyrolized the wood and started the fire.

I have all the pdf's saved and the report makes for some sobering reading.

Here's a link to one report..NFPA REPORT This report contradicts the contact with wood , I believe the reports I had previously found and saved were from the Las Vegas Fire Dept.

 

[mxslick]

Sorry for the double post, but the editing time had expired. Here is the link to the report I was referring to, it is the Clark County FD report.

CLARK COUNTY FD

See page 38 and on for the discussion of the cause.

 

[rt66electric]

neon XFmr for grilling

neon XFmr for grilling

I love playing Neon XFMR's My little brother and I are in a contest to find the most unique way to start a BBQ grill ( so far I think I have the best)

Add naptha and >>> WALLA<<<< PLASMA-ARC to start charcoal..