how to put fire out?

[tazarbm]

If you live in the USA. The switchboard is different from that in Finland.

If you have a old house. There is those old relay system. Where the sound mostly come´s.

I live in Romania (Europe if it matters from technical standpoints as - from what I've heard - the outlets here are different to the ones in USA, so it's possible that other electrical things are different too, that's why I'm mentioning).

My house is not old.... although, I don't know by which standards we are labeling it, because here in my village many of the houses are 150-200 years old, so my 10-15 years old house is not old when we compare it to those

Furthermore, the electrical wiring is new and it's been being worked on it for the last 5-10 years (just a rough estimate, I actually don't know when it was started being worked on, but I assume it's been started after the house was first built??)...

And the cover of the electrical panel is removed at all times too, I am looking at all of those wires and relays even now, I can clearly see everything as it exists, with all of the wires and scintillating leds and everything...

I have old house, so the relays starts to make noices mostly. When the "Water Boiler" starts the heating.

I'm not sure that we have only a water boiler... I mean, we do seem to have one because we have a 500 kg cylinder that holds and heats the water, so that's definitely a boiler. But that very thing is also the central heating for the entire home, so I think it's a 2-in-1 type of system, I don't know cause I'm not good at this stuff...

But anyway, I've unplugged that thing 3 days ago (yes, I'm living without heating at the moment, but it's fine as I do have a small heater in my room that covers my needs), so that can't be the problem since I've heard the same whooshing and crackling sounds several times yesterday...

If the sound comes the circuit breakers it´s possible, that circuit breaker is going to by dead someday or loose wire.

I do have a lot of these black things (are they called fuses??) that you can pull up and down, but my panel is not as well organized as yours, there are all sorts of differently coloured wires that are spread all over the place, with several red leds and 1 green led that keeps flashing intermittently every second or so... This is the 1st time in years that I wished I had a smartphone so that I can take a screenshot (or even a video) of that thing, it would have made things so much easier...

Try to tighten the wires. If those are in loose.

I'm not touching anything in there. It's better for everyone

Check this demonstration video for Circuit breakers

thanks, I'll check it out!

Try to find the source of the sound.

I tried. Whenever that thing starts crackling I cautiously approach it in hopes that I would find what exactly makes that sound. But I always stay 50 cm or so away from it, I really am scared shitless of getting closer to it, I always have the feeling that it will explode right in my face...

Any of us can open the cover of the electrical panel.

it's always opened because the electrician that's worked on this system never finished the job, so (at his recommendation) we've decided to keep it opened all the time so that I can have christmas lighting to stare at, at all times

But usually, the part that measures electricity consumption for the electricity company is not allowed to touch it.

I've no idea what / where that thing is (the disadvantage of living with your parents for so long without giving a crap about this stuff because it's usually taken care of by them, or by technicians)

Also, I am not sure that that thing is in my room, as we have 2 more electrical panels (one on the top floor of the house, and another one outside of our front yard, in the street basically), so it's possible that it's outside of our yard...

When the sound appears. Then take a screwdriver and touch only the plastic part of the relay by pressing the relay and see if the sound stops that way.

the relay is the white block of plastic in your screenshot, that holds those black fuses or whatever they are? Or which one is the relay exactly?? ... Although, again, I'm afraid of touching anything, I'm just not a tech-savvy guy, so I dread having to deal with any of this stuff. But thanks for the tip! I'll keep it in mind for when things spiral out of control

When electricity moves in the electrical panel. And over the years earthquakes, doors slammed, house moves or when there is a load there. Places loosen. So often a relay or fuse can start to touch the frame of the electrical panel. So it can also cause noise.

I see...

Usually, a wrong relay for the system load and dust ignites in the electrical panel on fire.

wrong in what way?? Actually, I don't even know what a relay is, so it's probably pointless trying to tell me how a relay can be wrong

If you have located the relay. What gives the sound. Take photo from it and Google the product and check if you can buy it and replace yourself.

nah, man! I'll wait for a professional to come and fix it... if they know how because - as I mentioned in a previous reply - we already had a professional check this out when we tried to activate the solar panels - but, believe it or not, the professional couldn't figure out something about the phases (I don't know what he meant by that), so - in the end - we decided to wait for the same person that created this wiring mess to resume his work....

Remember to turn off the electricity at the electrical center. It´s mostly the big switch

you mean like the red switch in your screenshot? Or bigger than that?

Remember to get "extinguishing blankets". That is good way to safe yourself and if the fire starts. Try to use that before any foam extinguishers if the fire is small.

never heard of those things, but noted! Thanks!

Fire extinguisher spray is good for small places and electrical panel is small place. It's easy to keep it nearby especially near the electrical panel.
install a smoke alarm above the electrical panel. When something electrical starts to burn, it produces a lot of thick smoke, which is easily detected by a fire alarm.

I'll recommend it to our guy and see what he says...

My best advice is to not install too many devices under the same plug. This way the electrical wire does not overheat too much and also cause excessive wear on the relay.

by plug you mean outlet?? Like the one in which I have my computer's monitor, speakers and computer itself plugged into? Or are you referring to something that's specific to this electrical panel?

Anyway, thanks for the awesome tips! I'll go look up the extinguishing blankets and watch the video... Cheers!

Uuuuu! Thanks for telling me. Hope you get your problem sorted soon, sounds scary.

it is scary... well, it was scary yesterday, but after a bit of research and talking to some people that seemed to know this stuff I understood that there's no chance of explosion (definitely not to the level that I imagined )... There is still a fair chance of fire, though...

 

[CryptoFire]

Just fire extinguishers, or sand. If you extinguish it with water or a wet towel, the fire may only intensify, or an explosion may occur altogether.

 

[Lifeisnotgood]

I dont think you are going to die in there. But we always have to be ready for fire.
But yeah, that
Fire extinguishing spray is good for the kitchen and electrical things.
Extinguishing blankets is good for the bedrooms and the warehouses.

But the fact is that not all of us know everything. I don't know everything either. We each specialize in something during our lives. Which then we know more about than someone else. Your expertise is in something else and then it has to be maintained, so to speak, throughout our lives.

 

[WaveProxies]

Try talking to it, maybe it will cool it down

 

[tazarbm]

Try talking to it, maybe it will cool it down

??

 

[WaveProxies]

??

Bad joke

 

[tazarbm]

Bad joke

oh, wait! I get it now...

Initially I thought that you actually wanted me to talk to the fire and was like "WTF?!?"