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View Full Version : Hairdryer Fire!


Cherry Pop
03-17-2007, 07:15 PM
Anyone else ever have a problem with their hairdryers? Today I was drying my hair with my hairdryer, it's about 4 years old and all of a sudden flames and sparks started shooting out of it. I screamed and threw the hairdryer on the floor then realized I'd better turn it off and unplug it. It totally surprised me as I have never had a hairdryer catch on fire before. Has anyone else had this happen? It totally freaked me out!

Jennifer23
03-17-2007, 08:05 PM
Hi...thats kinda happened to me before... i started to smell smoke but what i think happened is some of my hair got caught in a piece of it and then it started to burn.

toodles
03-17-2007, 08:40 PM
a lot of people don't realize that you have to keep the back of your hairdryers clean of hair.... it get cloged up than you do get a fire, i have had it a few times.. should never keep a hair dryer any more than two years... i am a hairdress have been for over 30 years.. so i know what i am talking about... the cheap one's you buy in the stores are terrible, i know you pay a bit for them, but they are not made all that well...some of them you can't take the backs off to keep them clean..

Cherry Pop
03-17-2007, 09:42 PM
My hair didn't get caught in it. I'm not sure what happened. All I know is flames and sparks started flying out of the hairdryer, it caught on fire and I freaked. It has never happened to me before and I just feel so lucky that my hair didn't catch on fire! I will take the advice here and change my hairdryer every 2 years! I got a new one tonight and the back comes off for cleaning so I definately will keep up on the cleaning of the filter. The whole thing has me freaked but I need to use a hairdryer cause my hair is so thick it takes all day to dry on it's own!

icedragon
03-18-2007, 07:24 AM
Anything with a heating element, (hairdryer, toaster, curling iron, toaster oven, clothes dryer, anything that has an element for heat) can cause fire. Even when not in use but just plugged in. Switches (on, off) have been known to fail and the element can also fail. The elements are metal with power running through them. Eventually this metal will weaken and bust. Now you have two pieces of metal (sort of) with power still trying to travel through it (the sparks). If you leave these things plugged in and the on off switch fails, the element will produce heat. Not a biggie if your home and smell it burning. But if your gone for the day could become a problem. Consider the hair dryer, As you dry your hair the element is cooled by the ambient air passing through it. Now take away the air and the element can produce enough heat to melt the case. Well, you can guess the rest as the hair dryer is lying on your bed. I used to own an apartment building in halifax and during the fire inspections, Many tenants got nailed for things like leaving the hair dryer and toaster plugged in.

icedragon
03-18-2007, 07:27 AM
ps, anyone with their own home should check their insurance policy because in ns people have been refused damages caused by a manner such as this.