Fire hazard?

[PrettySquareGal]

If the cord of a pre-1960 appliance is in good order, can you see there being some sort of fire hazard because it is vintage? What about tube radios?

 

[Cobden]

I'm no electrician, but I'd imagine it should be fine if it's earthed and has an appropriate fuse

 

[LizzieMaine]

Inspect the cord carefully -- if it's rubber, chances are it's brittle or will become brittle, and there may be patches where the insulation will crumble off. If it's a cloth covered cord, there's rubber insulation inside -- and if it feels at all stiff, it's best to replace it. Otherwise, the insulation will eventually crumble, leading to a dead short across your house line. It'll blow your fuses or trip your breakers. but it shouldn't catch fire -- unless somebody stuck pennies in your fusebox and forgot!

Tube radios and television sets are another story -- they *are* a fire hazard unless all paper capacitors in the chassis have been replaced. They can easily short out, causing other components to overheat, and *poof*. Forwarned is forearmed!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Inspect the cord carefully -- if it's rubber, chances are it's brittle or will become brittle, and there may be patches where the insulation will crumble off. If it's a cloth covered cord, there's rubber insulation inside -- and if it feels at all stiff, it's best to replace it. Otherwise, the insulation will eventually crumble, leading to a dead short across your house line. It'll blow your fuses or trip your breakers. but it shouldn't catch fire -- unless somebody stuck pennies in your fusebox and forgot!

Tube radios and television sets are another story -- they *are* a fire hazard unless all paper capacitors in the chassis have been replaced. They can easily short out, causing other components to overheat, and *poof*. Forwarned is forearmed!

Yikes!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Lizzie- I have a Philco from 1953. It does have tubes. It has a "UL" sticker on the back and is 115 volts. Will this still have the same hazard, do you know? I was just so excited to plug it in and have it work. Bleh.

 

[dhermann1]

53 Philco

Should probably get it checked out. Do you mean Philco TV? Wow! Those babies have about 22 or more tubes. God knows how many capacitors. Definitely have it looked at. Lugging an old TV to a repair place is a much bigger enterprise than sending a radio. Even a radio you're better off taking yourself, but a TV you definitely don't want to ship. Too risky.
There should be somebody within couple hours of you who could do the job.
Meanwhile just enjoy it as a "static display".
Think how many places that have burned to the ground had their destruction blamed on "faulty wiring". (Yikes indeed!)

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Should probably get it checked out. Do you mean Philco TV? Wow! Those babies have about 22 or more tubes. God knows how many capacitors. Definitely have it looked at. Lugging an old TV to a repair place is a much bigger enterprise than sending a radio. Even a radio you're better off taking yourself, but a TV you definitely don't want to ship. Too risky.
There should be somebody within couple hours of you who could do the job.
Meanwhile just enjoy it as a "static display".
Think how many places that have burned to the ground had their destruction blamed on "faulty wiring". (Yikes indeed!)

Oh, sorry, I meant a 1953 radio! It's a small clock/radio. It sounded so nice, but I won't plug it in again until I get it checked out by my friend who restores radios.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's a wise precaution -- it's probably an AC-DC set, which on the one hand is good because there's no transformer to overheat and burn up if something goes south, but on the other hand, a short can put 115 volts across the chassis itself -- meaning if you were to touch exposed metal, you could get a nasty zapping. So it's best to wait till the capacitors can be replaced -- fortunately, with smaller sets like this, its not a complicated job to do!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

That's a wise precaution -- it's probably an AC-DC set, which on the one hand is good because there's no transformer to overheat and burn up if something goes south, but on the other hand, a short can put 115 volts across the chassis itself -- meaning if you were to touch exposed metal, you could get a nasty zapping. So it's best to wait till the capacitors can be replaced -- fortunately, with smaller sets like this, its not a complicated job to do!

Thanks, Lizzie!

 

[Flivver]

Resistor-Type Power Cords

Some AC-DC radios use resistor-type power cords...that is the cord acts as a voltage dropping resistor to reduce the line voltage to what the set needs to operate. When replacing power cords on this type of set, it's best to use a resistor of the right value and wattage in series with a regular (non-resistor) power cord.

But, if your Philco was made in 1953, I doubt that it uses a resistor cord. These were mostly used in the late 1930s.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Good news. My friend can order replacement parts and is going to replace the caps for me!