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West London Tower Block Fire


Richlist

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I saw the reports of the terrible west London tower block fire first thing this morning.

My immediate reaction was......I hope the cause doesn't turn out to be one of the 5 million potentially  faulty tumble driers from Whirlpool, Hotpoint, Creda, Indesit, Swan & Proline.

The fire brigade have been trying to get the manufacturers to initiate a recall........so far unsuccessfully I believe.

Landlords would do well to issue a note to their tenants or investigate further regarding the faulty tumble driers.

 

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It is possible RL. I for one do not believe a 'fridge exploded. I know enough about 'fridges to know that a domestic 'fridge just does not explode.

It has been reported that gas engineers have been installing gas fired boilers in this tower block.  My money is on this as being a possible cause at this moment.

A tragedy non the less and to die this way is just too horrible to contemplate.  Many questions need to answered and in the fullness of time after a public enquiry the facts will be revealed.

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Yes i agree Melboy.

Latest info today is that the residents association had been complaining of 'electrical power surges' in the tower block and its the power surge that caused the problem with the fridge.

I've still never heard of this happening ever. No doubt it will all become clearer in due course.

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15 hours ago, Richlist said:

Yes i agree Melboy.

Latest info today is that the residents association had been complaining of 'electrical power surges' in the tower block and its the power surge that caused the problem with the fridge.

I've still never heard of this happening ever. No doubt it will all become clearer in due course.

All 'fridges are fitted with an electrical overload protector device which will cut the power supply in the event of any surging.

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I can go back as far as the 1960's and 'fridges were fitted with an electrically overload protector in-line with the supply to the 'fridge compressor motor which would cut-off the electrical supply in the event of any power surges or overheat.

In any event fridges do not "explode" by themselves.  If this was the case and can be proven, it would alter how 'fridges are manufactured.  Needless to say I am not convinced and would need more information.

It is likely this 'fridge will be taken away for investigation even though it's burnt out.

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Whirlpool have written to 3.8 million tumble drier owners......2.4. million haven't responded.

London Fire Brigade are attending one tumble drier fire per day on average.

'Which' say tumble driers are causing 12% of all home fires.

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My Daughter has had her tumble dryer modified but it took 3 months to get it done.

Basically it is clothing fluff not being cleared away from the filter and then falling onto the dryer heating element.

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Also official that the fire brigade had put out the fridge fire in the flat before the cladding went up in flames.

I would imagine Hotpoint will carry out their own detailed investigation as to why one of their fridges caught fire. This is not an everyday happening like the tumble dryer's.

I do know that fridge construction has altered since I was involved with fridges..........more use of plastic and the insulation changed to a foam injection rather than rockwool.

The mechanics of fridges....compressor's and circuitry have hardly altered since the the 1950's.

 

The one thing that requires in depth investigation is to why this block of flats was converted to gas.........most high rise blocks do not have gas because of the consequences in the event of a fire.

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The main focus, at least as reported by the media, is on the external cladding.

100% of all cladding checks on 120 high rise blocksvaround the country have failed.

Yet one council said that fire safety checks on the cladding carried out in the last year had been passed as satisfactory by the fire service....they even produced a certificate of conformity.

Is the current test different to that performed a year ago ?

Something not quite right there !

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One fact that has come out in the past 2 days is that the fire brigade use to conduct the fire safety tests on buildings and file reports.

In some council locations this responsibility was passed to local council building control around the time of the last Labour Governrnent in 2005-10.

Most local council building control offices were privatised from 2010 onwards.

Kensington tower block  residents had written to their local council offices stating that that their tower block was not safe in the event of a major fire. They had been told that if they continued with this action they would face legal action to stop them.........interesting to say the least.

It is all a real bugger's muddle isn't it. It will be a while sorting this confusion out. Top of the list is the Council do not have a clear idea of who was actually in the flats in the tower block due to cases of sub-letting and persons with no right of occupation which I take to mean unknown status immigrants staying with friends or family in the flats.

The young Italian couple who died were renting their flat out from the official council tenant it would seem.

 

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The media reporting, especially that from the BBC, is absolutely appalling. There are inconsistencies, the reporters clearly do not understand the basics of what they are reporting, they are contradictory.

It's virtually impossible to avoid all news reports on the subject but I will be taking most of it with a very large pinch of salt.

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Looking at the reports on the tv it looks as if the Rockwall / Fiberglass has survived, are they talking about the blue polyethene vapour barrier? Also, they say that they cut costs by using aluminium cladding  as opposed to zinc   , the only difference I can see is a lower melting point of the aluminium 

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Cladding:

Well this is more complex than the media would have us believe. It's not so much the outer material that is the issue....aluminium vs zinc, it's the material used in the middle of the sandwich. My understanding is that they were both fire rated/coded the same.

Fridge Fire

Apparently fridges used to contain an inert non flammable refrigerant gas code named R134a. This is now no longer used. The refrigerant used now is R600a which is known as isobutane and is highly flamable. The reason for the change is that its more efficient and uses less electrical energy.

The fridge where the fire started is now becoming clearer.

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But what caused the fridge to catch fire in a sealed system?  If the compressor had a restricted wall clearance and or the fridge condensor coils as well then overheating would take place but the overload protection device fitted to all compressors would have shut the compressor down.

We don't seem to be hearing much on the cause of the fire yet or the person whose flat it started in. There should be an interim  report by now in case the wider general public should be made aware of any potential fire hazards with fridges.

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It's been confirmed that the fire started with a Hotpoint fridge freezer.

The affected model nos are: ff175bp (white) or ff175bg (grey). The fire service and Gov are asking anyone who owns one to call Whirlpool free phone hotline on 0800 316 3826 or visit hotpointservice.co.UK/ fridge-freezer.

Any landlords who have supplied one in a rental property should take note of the above.

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