Blown computer power supply = fire risk?

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spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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We awoke last night at 3:00 to a very LOUD snap-crackle. It sounded like firecrackers and lasted a second or two. It was enough to snap us both straight up from a dead sleep, a WTF was that! There was a slight static/electrical smell in the air so I checked everything out.

I didn't put two and two together but my office computer had a bad power supply and the noise/smell was from it dieing I guess as that's where the smell was strongest.

So the question is was this a fire risk or are there safeties built in? I put this in OT because I figured it was more OT related.
 
amdhunter

amdhunter

Lifer
May 19, 2003
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Well, I guess it's always a risk when something blows up electrically. If it wasn't around other items, it would have been pretty self-contained though.
 
Locut0s

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
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<--- not an expert in anything electrical

But I'd imagine that yes it was something of a fire risk. That is if you had something next to the computer that was very flammable. However I would think that the house circuit breaker would negate any bigger risk as it would flip once the power draw became too large. This and the built in fuse in most power bars, if you had it plugged into one.
 
Mike Gayner

Mike Gayner

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2007
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Every mains electrical device is a fire risk to some degree.

What is the point of this question? It blew and didn't cause a fire...so does it matter?
 
S

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
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Mike Gayner said:
Every mains electrical device is a fire risk to some degree.

What is the point of this question? It blew and didn't cause a fire...so does it matter?
Click to expand...

It's gonna make me not stuff a desktop into a tight space with paper or other stuff laying around it, that's for sure.
 
Locut0s

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
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spidey07 said:
It's gonna make me not stuff a desktop into a tight space with paper or other stuff laying around it, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

What was the paper like jammed up against the side of the computer or something? Cause you shouldn't need an incident like this to tell you that's not good. Simply for ventilation for one.
 
Rubycon

Rubycon

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Aug 10, 2005
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PSU will have an internal fuse that will open when this happens. Sparks flying is not uncommon. Unless your PC is next to something flammable there is no hazard.
 
Number1

Number1

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
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Your built in safety would be your smoke detector.

and why in the world would a fire in a computer not be a fire hazard? You just got lucky it burnt itself out.
 
S

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
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Rubycon said:
PSU will have an internal fuse that will open when this happens. Sparks flying is not uncommon. Unless your PC is next to something flammable there is no hazard.
Click to expand...

Alright missy, was the firecrackers I heard the caps?
 
Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
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Number1 said:
Your built in safety would be your smoke detector.

and why in the world would a fire in a computer not be a fire hazard? You just got lucky it burnt itself out.
Click to expand...

Materials inside a PC are self extinguishing and the source (electrical) when removed would quickly negate the hazard. Unless you have paper balls in your PC there is no real hazard. ;)

In the millions of PCs running out there how many dwelling fires have been confirmed as the PC being the primary source? I'm willing to bet that number is very low.

That said working smoke detectors are always a good idea to have.

spidey07 said:
Alright missy, was the firecrackers I heard the caps?
Click to expand...

The only way to tell is to open the box. If it was caps blowing there will be a smell similar to burning honey nut cheerios. If it smells like a typical electronics burning smell a blown triac or rectifier is most likely the culprit. That;s usually the start in a flash-bang. The sudden collapsing failure results in a very high current fault which vaporizes pcb traces and causes great concern by the noise and flashes of light. It's harmless unless right in your face!
 
Last edited:
Hayabusa Rider

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
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A vacationing penguin is driving his car through Arizona when he notices that the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.
After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem.

The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."

"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."
 
dbk

dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
10
81
Hayabusa Rider said:
A vacationing penguin is driving his car through Arizona when he notices that the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.
After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem.

The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."

"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."
Click to expand...
D::awe::D
 
Phoenix86

Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
Rubycon said:
If it was caps blowing there will be a smell similar to burning honey nut cheerios. If it smells like a typical electronics burning smell a blown triac or rectifier is most likely the culprit. That;s usually the start in a flash-bang. The sudden collapsing failure results in a very high current fault which vaporizes pcb traces and causes great concern by the noise and flashes of light. It's harmless unless right in your face!
Click to expand...
You should write books on EE.
 
L

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
0
My surge protector woke my up a month or two ago by catching fire. I woke up to the pop and the smell of burning electronics. I couldn't locate it, so I just unplugged everything and flipped the breaker back on. I plugged in the plug strip, by itself, first and got a quite a light show at the wall outlet, and flames and smoke coming out of the plugs on the surge protector.

kinda scary but not too bad. I was just worried that it would have taken my new-ish desktop and monitor with it, but when I plugged in my new battery backup, everything was fine.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,930
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www.anyf.ca
I would guess that yes, but it's probably a very small one.

I've been debating on if I want to build wood computer cases at one point as it's a material that is easy to get and worth with, but the fact that there is the potential of sparks and fire is what is keeping me from doing it. The fact that the PSU is mostly all enclosed reduces the risk of a spark getting out of it and into the computer case (or outside the case) but it's there.

If it's plugged into an AFCI protected circuit chances are even lower as if it's an serries arc it wont trip the breaker due to a short, but it should trip the AFCI. Though I have heard bad experiences with computers and AFCIs, they tend to trip falsely when a UPS is put into the equation.
 
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