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Glade Plug-In
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Posted By:
Jun 12, 2004
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Is this TRUE or NOT?
A GOOD WARNING TO US ALL..
My brother and his wife learned a hard
> >lesson this last week. Their house burned down...nothing left but
> >ashes. They have good insurance, so the home will be replaced and most
> >of the contents. That is the good news. However, they were sick when
> >they found out the cause of the fire. The insurance investigator
sifted
> >through the ashes for several hours. He had the cause of the fire
> >traced to the master bathroom. He asked my sister-in-law what she had
> >plugged in the bathroom. She listed the normal things....curling
> >iron, blow dryer. He kept saying to her, "No, this would be something
> >that
> >would disintegrate at high temperatures." Then, my sister-in-law
> >remembered she had a Glade Plug-in in the bathroom. The investigator
> >had one of those "Aha" moments. He said that was the cause of the
> fire.
> >He said he has seen more home fires started with the plug in type room
> >fresheners than anything else. He said the plastic they are made from
> >is a THIN plastic. He said in every case there was nothing left to
> >prove that it even existed. When the investigator looked in the wall
> >plug, the two prongs left from the plug-in were still in there. My
> >sister-in-law had one of the plug-ins that had a small night light
> >built in it. She said she had noticed that the light would dim....and
> >then
> >finally go out. She would walk in a few hours later, and the light
> >would be back on again. The investigator said that the unit was
> >getting too hot, and would dim and go out rather than just blow the
> light
> >bulb. Once it cooled down, it would come back on. That is a warning
> sign.
> >The investigator said he personally wouldn't have any type of plug in
> >fragrance device anywhere in his house. He has seen too many burned
> >down homes. Thought I would warn you all.
> >
> >Pass this on to the ones that you love.
Kristin Douglas
Loan Processor
American Eagle Mortgage Corp.
Category: ; Replies: 13
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Comments
The Curator
in San Diego
Member
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2004 | 12:42 PM
Well, there have been complaints filed about glade plug-ins:
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2002/05/27/story2.html?page=1
But plugging anything into an electrical outlet can create a potential fire hazard... if the wiring is bad. Here's the Glade website:
http://www.glade.com/pre_plugins.asp
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M Ruprecht
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 | 12:50 PM
I |
Stephanie
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 | 08:14 AM
How would they know that the glad plug ins were the fire starter when he said himself that theres literally no evidence left behind because of the thin plastic?!
Hm... |
Jeff
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 | 10:46 AM
This is not true since a light would not dim aand go out because the Glad plug-in got too hot. The circuit beaker would blow befor that happened.
If it were plugged into a bathroom receptacle, it would more than likely be a GFCI receptacle which would turn off if there was a jump in current. |
EE
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 | 07:45 AM
Nice try Jeff, you must have slept through your circuits class.
A thermistor is used to limit current flow relative to ambient temperature. Indeed, the light would dim and eventually go out with high enough temps.
A GFCI is not a current limiting device. It detects Ground Faults (hence the GF in GFCI), so if your standing in water in your bathroom an you make contact with the AC, the GFCI will interupt the circuit. |
Eric- The fire investigator
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 | 08:19 AM
For every ones information this is not a hoax. I am a licensed fire investigator, I would share my name however the case I am currently working on is in the litigation process so I cannot give a lot of detail. How ever this I can tell you. The glade extra outlet is definitively a fire starter. This device has a 15 ampere current rating, meaning only 15 amps may be safely drawn through the extra outlet, any more current than that will overheat the device through resistance heating. This process is called IR squared. Most people have little or no understanding of current versus voltage. This should not be left in the hands of the consumer to make this calculation. The device has no protection against overcurrent, this is a product defect. Have any of these myth busting web sites personally done product testing on this device, and what sort of training do the authors have in electrical engineering, product failure analysis, or fire investigation? Do they know the concept of IR squared, or the fire tetrahedron, or heat release, or pyrolysis? These are simple basics of fire science. SO therefore you may wish to reconsider taking there word for it. And of course SE Johnson is going to defend there product! In SE Johnsons reply did they mention any safety devices incorporated into their product, NO and that is because there are none! So my advice is to read the package carefully heed any warnings or current ratings and if you are unsure of the amount of current the device you are going to plug in will draw, DONT PLUG IT IN! I have nothing against Glade most of their products are fine, they are the expert of stink, not electricity, and this product has room for safety improvement! |
Sir D
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 | 06:59 AM
My family have been using Glade plug-ins for years. I have no idea why anyone would use a extra outlet from a Air freshner PLUG-IN. Come on people use your head. Just like the fire investigator said Glade is a master of stink not ELECTRICITY. I would never use the extra-outlet product unless it was a powerstrip. |
carrie w
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 | 02:52 AM
This is sooooo not a hoax! I have been using Glade plugins for years. Well that all changed today when my house almost burnt down. I had a Glade oil plugin airfreshner. Not the kind with the extra outlet. It overheated and started on fire taking a big chunk of my wall with it. And just so you know, it did not blow my circuit breaker. The fire marshall came and looked things over to make sure there was no longer any fire risk. He said that they have seen several of these fires and each time they attempt to contact SC Johnson with no response. He was shocked by the amount of damage that it had done and said I was lucky we caught it when we did or my house would have been gone. |
Eric
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 | 07:47 AM
To answer Stephanie's question as to how you can tell after all the plastic burns up. After all of the plastic and organic materials burn away there is still some metal buss work and a small printed circuit board that will remain. Heat oxidizes metal and the heavier the oxidation the more heat was present. So where there is heavy oxidation deposits this is an indicator of localized heating which can only be caused by electrical resistance heating (IR squared). If a circuit board were faulty. Under a microscope and using x-ray you can pinpoint localized heating on the printed circuit board by comparing damage to the circuit traces and by the number og layers damaged on the board. So you see fire leaves behind a tremendous amount of forensic evidence. And does the guy that had one burn up part of his wall still have the burnt glade pug-in I would be interested in having you send it to me. |
Eric
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 | 03:14 PM
Carrie do you have the remains of the burnt glade plug-in ? If so I would be interested in having you ship it to me. |
aoctees
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 | 09:13 PM
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/glade.asp
it's a hoax |
Ken
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 | 08:39 AM
"I squared R" or I^2R is a measure of power. As is VI and V^2/R
IR squared, IR^2, what's that? |
Eric
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 | 12:38 PM
To answer Ken in Scotland.... Besides the obvious of I=current R= resistance; IR squared is a term used in resistance heating....meaning resistance creates heat and the heat generated creates more resistance. When heating is achieved through resistance, the heat generated, squares the resistance which squares the amount of heat generated. This can cause thermal runaway in a conductor creating sufficient energy to ignite combustible materials. |
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Note: This thread is located in the Old Forum of the Museum of Hoaxes.
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