It went BANG!! (in the middle of the night)

[Bravheart]

MOVs age in use which causes the threshold voltage to drop to the point where the normal mains will trigger it. The mains tends to be higher in the middle of the night when there is less demand.

For those who don‘t know Metal Oxide Varistors have a high resistance below the threshold voltage. Their resistance drops rapidly with increasing voltage above the threshold voltage. They are used to suppress transient voltages which whilst high are short duration so limited energy, the MOV can cope with the limited energy and survive. When they get old the threshold drops below the mains voltage and as they are not conti rated ……. BANG.

P.S. It would have been worse if the electric blanket was off at the time!

I'm sure this is correct but it's above my intelligence level, all I know is we had a lightning strike on the wires once and the guy at the end of the line had most of his white goods, TV etc. go up in smoke.

 

[redlig]

What has that got to do with 'having an electric blanket' on (draining world resources), in the middle of summer. PMSL

If it's cold and you need an electric blanket then why not. Presumable you don't use one at any time of the year,especially when there is a build up of 1mm of snow , as I personally don't, and shiver in the knowledge that the world is saved.

 

[redlig]

Not on Dartmoor it doesn't!

Different breed of folk in that neck of the woods.

 

[Edward Teach]

If it's cold and you need an electric blanket then why not. Presumable you don't use one at any time of the year,especially when there is a build up of 1mm of snow , as I personally don't, and shiver in the knowledge that the world is saved.

Calm down,
No point having a dig for no apparent reason,
Want this
Have a good day

 

[reb78]

Not on Dartmoor it doesn't!

Haha. I went up there in the 110 when the beast from the east was full of anger. I had to turn back on the road from Tavistock up towards Princetown and admit that I was being silly thinking of going to play on the moor in the snow. I wound the window down to get better vision to do a 3 point turn and the snow was driving so bad I got covered!

 

[frank horton]

no elec blanket here, u need a hot woman....or two......lol....

 

[julianthegypsy]

Haha. I went up there in the 110 when the beast from the east was full of anger. I had to turn back on the road from Tavistock up towards Princetown and admit that I was being silly thinking of going to play on the moor in the snow. I wound the window down to get better vision to do a 3 point turn and the snow was driving so bad I got covered!

We once went out for a play at burrator, a mile down the road, in a fiat 500. Realized that we were getting stuck and couldn't turn around, so we picked one end up, turned it round the other way and just got away and made it back home. We never tried anything like that again, funnily enough!

 

[Tom O]

no elec blanket here, u need a hot woman....or two......lol....

I use a comforter year round because even the hot woman won’t shut up!

 

[Barking Mat]

Last night, approx 1:30 am I'd been up to the toilet [as you do ] and returned to bed. Five minutes later....BANG! I tried the bedside light to see what the problem was - nothing. Alarm clock, phone cradle, electric blanket all dead.

Got up and reset one trip on the board which had 'thrown' and they came back but the side lights, phone, router, etc in the lounge were still out. "Strange" thinks I..... I finally tracked the problem to an 'power-surge' protected Ikea extension bar which seems to have given up the ghost. I have no idea what could have happened to cause it, as there were no appliances activated at or about the time to cause an overload .

It seems to be my week for electrical 'mishaps'. Earlier I introduced a grinder wearing a wire brush to a dust sheet and before I got a chance to turn it off, the magic smoke had made good its escape. Exit one grinder, stage left. Oh well...... That leaves me with only five grinders now....

Keep off 'grinder', having read this thread twice, I think that is the problem.

 

[Barking Mat]

It seems to be my week for electrical 'mishaps'. Earlier I introduced a grinder wearing a wire brush to a dust sheet and before I got a chance to turn it off, the magic smoke had made good its escape. Exit one grinder, stage left. Oh well...... That leaves me with only five grinders now....

@slim_boy_fat quote.