Almost lost it all

[ScottM]

I will post pictures tonight but I almost lost it all. I was working in the shop (my garage) and smelled something burning. I turned off the lathe and dust collector and saw nothing. So back to work I went. A minute later I smelled smoke stronger. I turned in time to see smoke pouring out the duct collector motor. I was able to reach the plug before flames erupted.

When the pulled the cover of the switch housing I found some of the wires and both capacitors were a melted mess. My dust collector [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] is Delta 50-760. It is about 10 months old with less then 1 hour of actual run time. It is under warrante but not sure how long it will take to get it replaced/ fixed.

I guess I was luck that the dust collector is in my shop and not in a separate room. I would hate to find out what would have happened if I did not pull the plug.

 

[Sealeveler]

Caught it just in time,great job.Tony

 

[Bas]

Wow....glad to hear you caught it in time! Scary story. I think I'll invest in a smoke detector. Delta better not give you any flack in replacing it.

 

[scsmith42]

Scott - glad that you caught it - this sure brought back some unpleasant memories...

Kinda makes you wonder why the breaker didn't trip?

Bas - I have not checked recently, but a lot of smoke detectors are triggered by small particles in the air - including woodworking dust. You may get a lot of false alarms. I wonder if there are any reasonably priced detectors that are designed specifically for woodworking shops?

Scott

 

[Canuck]

So sorry to hear this, Scott!!!

Glad that you were able to catch it in time. Delta should do a full replacement of the DC, in my opinion.

Wayne

 

[froglips]

Whew, glad everthing turned out ok.

Jim

 

[dkeller_nc]

Good to hear you caught it in time. I had a similar experience where a tiny piece of wood got hot and made it's way into the dust collector, where it smoldered for quite a while until I found it. After that I went out and bought a fire extinguisher for use (well, actually "just in case"!) in the shop.

 

[Glennbear]

I will post pictures tonight but I almost lost it all. I was working in the shop (my garage) and smelled something burning. I turned off the lathe and dust collector and saw nothing. So back to work I went. A minute later I smelled smoke stronger. I turned in time to see smoke pouring out the duct collector motor. I was able to reach the plug before flames erupted.

When the pulled the cover of the switch housing I found some of the wires and both capacitors were a melted mess. My dust collector [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] is Delta 50-760. It is about 10 months old with less then 1 hour of actual run time. It is under warrante but not sure how long it will take to get it replaced/ fixed.

I guess I was luck that the dust collector is in my shop and not in a separate room. I would hate to find out what would have happened if I did not pull the plug.

I am glad you caught things in time Scott, my Delta DC is in a seperate closet and today I will be mounting a smoke detector in there, I already have one in the main shop.

Scott - glad that you caught it - this sure brought back some unpleasant memories...

Kinda makes you wonder why the breaker didn't trip?

Bas - I have not checked recently, but a lot of smoke detectors are triggered by small particles in the air - including woodworking dust. You may get a lot of false alarms. I wonder if there are any reasonably priced detectors that are designed specifically for woodworking shops?

Scott

I too wonder why the breaker did not trip. As I stated above I have a smoke detector mounted in my 24x24 shop and so far this Kidde inexpensive unit has not given off any false alarms. Smoke detectors come in two styles IIRC, ionization and photocell type detectors. It has been many years since I was an active professional in the fire service but we have several pros amongst us who will hopefully chime in with advice as to which type is less subject to false triggering. :wsmile:

 

[farmerbw]

WOW, sounds like a close call Scott. Glad you caught it in time and the only damage was the DC and nothing else that couldn't be replaced. Hopefully Delta will do the right thing quickly and painlessly.

Brian.

 

[medic]

In referance to BAS's idea of a smoke detector I would also recommend installing a carbon monixide detector, for the price it's cheep insurance, fyi most fire depts will install one for free or at reduced cost . Also they can tell you what size fire ext.is best for you size workspace

 

[ScottM]

I am glad you caught things in time Scott, my Delta DC is in a seperate closet and today I will be mounting a smoke detector in there, I already have one in the main shop.



I too wonder why the breaker did not trip. As I stated above I have a smoke detector mounted in my 24x24 shop and so far this Kidde inexpensive unit has not given off any false alarms. Smoke detectors come in two styles IIRC, ionization and photocell type detectors. It has been many years since I was an active professional in the fire service but we have several pros amongst us who will hopefully chime in with advice as to which type is less subject to false triggering. :wsmile:

I am also wondering. Maybe I pulled the plug before it popped. My DC was running on a 110v curcuit with a 20 AMP breaker. I plan to replace the breaker just to be sure it is functioning properly.

 

[MikeL]

WOW, I'm glad that you were able to catch it in time. Now I am worried about having my dust collector located in the loft of my shop. :icon_scra

 

[Splint Eastwood]

Scott,

Glad to hear you caught in time! :icon_thum

Im sure if under warranty, should replace!

If not, offer out a new ad slogan to the company:

Delta, I'm glad I smelt ya!

 

[Bryan S]

It is good that you caught this in time. Almost is a good word here.

 

[RickC]

That sounds like a close one! Glad you were able to catch it. If I recall, that is an attached garage, too, is it not? Could have been a catastrophe.

 

[Bryan S]

I am also wondering. Maybe I pulled the plug before it popped. My DC was running on a 110v curcuit with a 20 AMP breaker. I plan to replace the breaker just to be sure it is functioning properly.

The short answer is the circuit breaker is there to protect the wiring in the walls not the equipment.

The motor should have its own thermal protection but it is there to protect the motor windings from damage due to overheating, but not necessarily the wiring to the motor. Electricity is strange at times when I was doing service work on car wash equipent I found a short in a motor starter coil that would trip the 300 amp main panel breaker insted of the 20 amp feeder breaker go figure :dontknow:.

It is good you caught it in time and unplugged the the DC. The first thing you do in an electrical fire is remove the power source (which is what you did) and most of the time this will stop the fire.

 

[LeftyTom]

Almost is as close as anyone cares to get. Good on you for keeping a sharp eye out.

 

[CrealBilly]

I will post pictures tonight but I almost lost it all. I was working in the shop (my garage) and smelled something burning. I turned off the lathe and dust collector and saw nothing. So back to work I went. A minute later I smelled smoke stronger. I turned in time to see smoke pouring out the duct collector motor. I was able to reach the plug before flames erupted.

When the pulled the cover of the switch housing I found some of the wires and both capacitors were a melted mess. My dust collector [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] is Delta 50-760. It is about 10 months old with less then 1 hour of actual run time. It is under warrante but not sure how long it will take to get it replaced/ fixed.

I guess I was luck that the dust collector is in my shop and not in a separate room. I would hate to find out what would have happened if I did not pull the plug.

Scott this reminds me of several years ago and my ordeal with a cheap-o HF air compressor that about burned down my shop. First of all let me say; I'm glad your ok and secondly I'm glad there was no more damage than there was.

God bless bud

 

[Trent Mason]

Scott,

I'm sorry to hear about the incident, but am very glad that you are alright and that it wasn't a huge loss. Best of luck with the replacement.

 

[TracyP]

Wow Scott. Glad you didn't go in the house for dinner or anything else for that matter. That could have been a disaster.