Fridge fires and mitigation
Discussion
Since recent events have highlighted the dangers of fridges catching fire I was wondering what 'best practice' is if you have a plastic-backed fridge.
I just pulled ours out of its alcove and inspected the back. It is a tall Samsung fridge in the RR series. I removed the grille at the bottom and checked for fluff and dust - there was a tiny bit but easy to vacuum out. The compressor is marked as having a thermal fuse. Unfortunately the back panel of the fridge looks like it is hard plastic, so other things being equal it is more combustible than a metal back panel.
There is a smoke alarm just outside the kitchen door, but when it arrives tomorrow I will be adding a heat-activated alarm at the top of the alcove. However, given the revelations of the Fire Brigade video showing how combustible the plastic back can be I was wondering if there is a way of making the back panel more fire-retardant. Perhaps an adhesive metal layer (sticky-backed thick metal foil?) would help, or would that make it worse? Any other treatment that might be an improvement over bare plastic?
The other solution is to buy a fridge with a metal back of course. Since the Samsung is relatively new that might simply exchange one fridge for another with unknown safety factors.
I just pulled ours out of its alcove and inspected the back. It is a tall Samsung fridge in the RR series. I removed the grille at the bottom and checked for fluff and dust - there was a tiny bit but easy to vacuum out. The compressor is marked as having a thermal fuse. Unfortunately the back panel of the fridge looks like it is hard plastic, so other things being equal it is more combustible than a metal back panel.
There is a smoke alarm just outside the kitchen door, but when it arrives tomorrow I will be adding a heat-activated alarm at the top of the alcove. However, given the revelations of the Fire Brigade video showing how combustible the plastic back can be I was wondering if there is a way of making the back panel more fire-retardant. Perhaps an adhesive metal layer (sticky-backed thick metal foil?) would help, or would that make it worse? Any other treatment that might be an improvement over bare plastic?
The other solution is to buy a fridge with a metal back of course. Since the Samsung is relatively new that might simply exchange one fridge for another with unknown safety factors.
I've just pulled the fridge completely out, and I'm pleased to find that what I thought was a plastic back is in fact a brushed finish metal. Less worrisome.
I agree that there are plenty of other things that can ignite - there are two routers, an alarm system, a Sky HD box and a NAS that are active all the time, and plenty of devices on standby. Smoke alarms are in the appropriate places (and tested), and in the event of the downstairs escape route being impassable we can leave the bedrooms via the window onto a low roof if necessary. No household extinguisher though, I've seen somebody on here recommending the water mist ones so I'll be looking into that.
I agree that there are plenty of other things that can ignite - there are two routers, an alarm system, a Sky HD box and a NAS that are active all the time, and plenty of devices on standby. Smoke alarms are in the appropriate places (and tested), and in the event of the downstairs escape route being impassable we can leave the bedrooms via the window onto a low roof if necessary. No household extinguisher though, I've seen somebody on here recommending the water mist ones so I'll be looking into that.
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