SINGAPORE: With the months ahead set to get hotter and drier,
many households are turning up their air-conditioners to beat the
heat. But fires sparked by air-conditioners are the most prevalent
in the household, more than other electrical appliances.
There are two to three cases
each month - according to a report by the Singapore Civil Defence
Force (SCDF) that was published in June. The report was based on
the incidents SCDF responded to between 2008 and 2014.
Between 2008 and 2014, fires
involving air-conditioners consistently came out tops, beating
other household appliances, like water heaters, washing machines,
refrigerators and even televisions.
In 1998, about 58 per cent of
Singapore households owned an air-con. By 2013, the figure jumped
to about 76 per cent.
ERRANT CONTRACTORS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AIR-CON FIRES:
EXPERT
Various parts of the
air-conditioner system can catch fire, but most cases involve the
condensing unit - which is usually mounted outside a home and the
fan coil unit, which is found indoors.
SCDF said a root cause of
fires in the fan coil unit is when two separate electrical wires
are twisted together and insulated with tape, instead of using a
single, continuous electrical cable.
An expert said some errant
contractors do this to save costs.
“If they have old wires, they
will join them with new wires and they will strip the insulation
from the wires, expose the copper tubes and join both ends of the
copper tubes by twisting them and put insulation tape around it,"
said Mr Zul Zain, Section Head, Facility Technology at ITE College
East.
“This is a cheap way of
establishing a connection which is not adhering to standards. It
may cause arcing. In layman's terms, arcing is where the current
jumps from one end to the other. When this happens, it heats up the
insulation. The insulation will turn black which means it's
carbonised. Once it's carbonised it will become a good conductor.
And once it becomes a good conductor, it will attract fires,” he
added.
Between 2008 and 2014, SCDF
responded to 32,624 fire-related calls. Only 197, or 0.6 per cent
were reported cases of air-con fires.
Still, SCDF said any fire, no
matter how small, can develop into a large one, putting lives and
property at risk.
"Furthermore, given that rooms
and offices are generally well furnished, a blaze such as an
air-con fire can be fuelled by the combustibles found in such
premises, and thereby developing and spreading quickly to the other
parts of the premises," said an SCDF spokesman.
To tackle this, authorities
have embarked on outreach efforts in residential estates. This
includes working closely with the People’s Association (PA) and
grassroots leaders in the “Post Fire Public Education”
initiative.
This was introduced by the
SCDF in 2012, and uses recent fire incidents to drive home the
importance of fire safety. During the localised outreach efforts,
fire safety exhibition panels are set up at the void deck of the
affected HDB Block and door-to-door visits to distribute fire
safety pamphlets to residents are conducted by SCDF, PA and
grassroots organisations.
Experts said air-con fires can
be avoided, by ensuring air-cons are properly installed by trained
and reputable contractors and that maintenance is done
regularly.
- CNA/dl