[Enzeder]

Life's funny.

One of my 1978 Sciroccos got to 201K miles before I sold it off to a coworker. It was running fine but he got it into his head that he needed to do something with the Bosch K-Jetronic mass flow sensor/fuel flow regulator. I guess he didn't tighten something down properly because very shortly thereafter, the car burned up.

Damn. I replaced the injectors in my old Audi 5k that had K-Jetronic. And drove it many miles beyond - it made a great winter beater with proper winter tyres... almost unstoppable.

 

[MikeQBF]

I've had exactly one ICE fire, though I should have had two. In the former, I had just replaced the fuel filter and did everything right. Start 'er up to test... FIRE! I ran into the house, grabbed a bag of flour to smother it which worked fine, although the car smelled like a bakery for a couple of weeks. Turns out the filter had a manufacturing defect - a hole in the side of the case. It was one of those cheap plastic cone-looking things. Never again.

The latter was a 6-year-old Beetle I had for school. It lost power on the freeway, I managed to pull over, and lifted the boot to discover that the fuel line to the carburetor had simply come off altogether, spraying gas everywhere. If you've ever worked on old Beetles, you know that everything in there is scorching hot. That one should have self-immolated immediately.

 

[Dougie01]

What did you use as an alarm / annunciator?

In particular, if you have a detached garage, how do you hear the alarm from inside the house?

 

[Eric Nay]

My garage is integrated as part of the house, and I sleep in the room directly above the garage. Used to get damn hot in summer, with engine heat rising into the living area! I used a pair of wired Kidde Heat Detectors, and their audio alarm is loud enough to let the whole house know if there is an issue.

 

[PANZERidIV]

This is unfortunately the kind of story that puts off many potential EV buyers. 2-1/2 hours and 20k gallons of water to fully extinguish.

Tesla goes up in flames after single-car crash in Wakefield

It took crews two-and-a-half hours and 20,000 gallons of water to extinguish the electric vehicle fire. See Boston.com.

www.boston.com

But what a great picture!

 

[PANZERidIV]

What the H...? Yikes! Do you people drive around with lit flares for illumination???
In the last 35+ years I've driven a collection of sh_tboxes with questionable maint (as broke kids tend to) and done my share of experimental repairs, and never had a fire.
Or known anyone that has had a car catch fire.
One fire I might write off as a fluke. Multiple fires and I'd start looking real hard at the beneficiaries of my insurance policies...

He was talking VW’s. 🤣

I can proudly say I had a Jetta engine catch fire. A little late night mechanic boo boo. But I learned the 1.8T engine can still drive when all of the fuel injectors pop out of the holes where they are supposed to go down into the combustion chamber. My advice is to open the hood and BLOW HARD! ☠

 

[Dougie01]

If humans were sensible, building codes would be changed now to require 50 amp outlets in garages as well as high-volume sprinklers for fire suppression. Already required in most public housing situations (nursing homes, apartments), it would be fairly easy to specify that garages have sprinklers capable of cooling lithium battery car fires. It won't happen, of course, but might become a feature in high-end houses.

Going a step further, if a fire is detected, the Smart Home system could open the garage door and instruct the car to back out of the garage and away from the house. Technically easy, but getting dumb humans on board: impossible.

 

[Atlant]

If humans were sensible, building codes would be changed now to require 50 amp outlets in garages as well as high-volume sprinklers for fire suppression. Already required in most public housing situations (nursing homes, apartments), it would be fairly easy to specify that garages have sprinklers capable of cooling lithium battery car fires. It won't happen, of course, but might become a feature in high-end houses.

Going a step further, if a fire is detected, the Smart Home system could open the garage door and instruct the car to back out of the garage and away from the house. Technically easy, but getting dumb humans on board: impossible.

I'm not convinced of the relative value of home sprinkler systems. Where I live, the odds are way better that, over the years, the sprinkler system would freeze and flood my house than that it would ever be used to knock down a fire.

Maybe EVs shift that balance but if that really becomes the case (that EVs pose some sort of large home fire risk), EVs will be abandoned.

On the other hand, your auto-back-out system might be worth something.

 

[10468]

I had in my life multiple ICE vehicle's catch fire...my last ICE fire almost cost me my entire property catching on fire. But this still is not making me afraid of EV vehicles or possibly thermal runaway in battery pack and causing vehicle fire. Installing smoke detectors and heat detectors is all you need to deal with this type of issues.

During a big drought a few years back and some illegal fireworks set off by some neighbor, my lawn caught on fire, but that is not making me afraid of lawns. Also, my cars are both diesels, so much less of a fire hazard there.

 

[Atlant]

During a big drought a few years back and some illegal fireworks set off by some neighbor, my lawn caught on fire, but that is not making me afraid of lawns. Also, my cars are both diesels, so much less of a fire hazard there.

Interestingly, some of the most famous incidents of types of vehicles catching fire had nothing to do with the fuel. For example:

Unraveling the Mystery of Ford’s Fire-Prone Switches

A house in my neighborhood was affected by one of those fires.

 

[Spin]

I'm not convinced of the relative value of home sprinkler systems. Where I live, the odds are way better that, over the years, the sprinkler system would freeze and flood my house than that it would ever be used to knock down a fire.

There are solutions for sprinkler systems in unheated areas. These systems are charged with air, and only release water to the grid if a sprinkler head is fused.

 

[Atlant]

There are solutions for sprinkler systems in unheated areas. These systems are charged with air, and only release water to the grid if a sprinkler head is fused.

That's true in commercial settings where so-called “Dry Pipe” systems are often installed but I've never heard of a residential sprinkler system being installed like that.

Residential sprinklers tend to just take the main water supply to the house, route it past all the sprinkler heads, and then route it to the normal piping for domestic water consumption. The assures that there isn't any chance of a blockage in the sprinkler system going unnoticed and it helps mitigate against freezing but it's not a guarantee against freezing in the event of a long power failure unless you can leave water running continuously.

 

[RobW]

This is unfortunately the kind of story that puts off many potential EV buyers. 2-1/2 hours and 20k gallons of water to fully extinguish.

Tesla goes up in flames after single-car crash in Wakefield

It took crews two-and-a-half hours and 20,000 gallons of water to extinguish the electric vehicle fire. See Boston.com.

www.boston.com

So right about the PR effects. BUT, far worse, Tesla seems to refuse to report, address, or repair the cause of these events. Though some have tried to get some sunlight on it; Tesla refuses. Sadly, if you pay attention, there are a lot of these Tesla fires. And still Tesla refuses and sandbags. Alas. All that only underscores your point.