EHU leads.. a dangerous habit folk have (1 Viewer)

[Jaws]

I see this more and more and just about all over the world :Sad:

People leaving their EHU cable coiled up..

I suspect folk simply do not believe how dangerous this is until they actually experience it for them selves. Nor realise how easily a coiled cable can catch fire ( even my own wife did not believe me until her extension lead not only melted but caught fire and caused damage to the flooring in the porch )

If you are just drawing an amp or so chances are ll will be well.. but especially at this time of year when many of us are using fan heaters and the like, drawing much more can be absolutely lethal

And for goodness sake do not thing for one minute an EHU will trip out before it gets dangerous..
By the time that lets go it is already FAR too late

A 2kW fan heater draws about 8 amps.. and believe me, that is MORE than enough to have a fire under your van as well as the one you have inside

I do appreciate it is a royal pain to unwind a long lead sometimes, but it is more of a pain filling out all those insurance claim papers after you have set fire to either your own van or someone elses !! ( and you could always do as I do and carry a long AND a short lead )

Of course there is also the point that an EHU lead is not cheap, and leaving it coiled ( so heated up a LOT ) will dramatically reduce its expected life span

I am sure ther will be lots of people sitting there saying stuff like 'never had a problem.. load of bosh' but please please believe me.. it is NOT a load of bosh, but one of the more dangerous aspects of motorhoming that few people seem to be willing to accept !

Took this picture last weekend

Sunday morning the damned thing was steaming !!!

 

[Dodgey]

Can you move over so I can join you on that soap box?:soaobox:


This does drive me mad too, and even more worriing when it's the van next door

 

[Terry]

Come on guys somebody must be able to get a pic of one with melted snow in this weather :thumb:I await the first picture
terry

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[Geo]

You are quite right, But
You can lead a horse to water
But you cant make it unwind its cable
Something like that anyhoo

 

[Jim]

I always fully unwind my cable when I am 25m from the EHU.

when I am 10m from it, I leave 15 on the coil, never noticed it getting so warm as to be dangerous and I do check. In France, its nothing to see a 50m coil wound out to only 2m though I appreciate its rare to have more than 6amps out there.

I will have be more careful in future:Blush:

 

[Wildman]

pass a current through a cooiled cable and it be comes an inductor, in short a wire wound heating element so be warned.

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[madbluemad]

Theres a camp site that we stay on a couple of times a year, its near Coventry. Upon arrival you get a sheet of paper which tells you what each electrical appliance draws from the ehu.

In very bold print it says that anybody found with a coiled up ehu cable will be removed from the site immediatley. I actually have this info sheet pinned up in the kitchen area of the mh.

You so right, you see people coiling cable so that everything looks neat and tidy, its got to be that they just dont know.

Jim

 

[DESCO]

Theres a camp site that we stay on a couple of times a year, its near Coventry. Upon arrival you get a sheet of paper which tells you what each electrical appliance draws from the ehu.

In very bold print it says that anybody found with a coiled up ehu cable will be removed from the site immediatley. I actually have this info sheet pinned up in the kitchen area of the mh.

You so right, you see people coiling cable so that everything looks neat and tidy, its got to be that they just dont know.

Jim

I agree it's a shame more sites don't have such a rule and enforce it, Club sites should be among the first to apply this rule with their health & saftey rules.

Dave.:thumb::thumb:

 

[Road Runner]

A photo of my lead and caravan was posted on a caravan forum 7 years ago by someone saying they had spotted this and how dangerous it was.

Put out a bit as didn't say a word to me on the rally, just posted it

Good advice though:thumb:

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[tommytli]

mines a right pain in the a**e, its really thick and heavy and as soon as you let go of it you get an instant tangled up mess i hate that wire

 

[chatter]

A photo of my lead and caravan was posted on a caravan forum 7 years ago by someone saying they had spotted this and how dangerous it was.

Put out a bit as didn't say a word to me on the rally, just posted it

Good advice though:thumb:

they possibly thought they might get a right mouthfull - just like i got onetime when i said that really you need to unwind your cable to someone, and bill thinks im possitively mad when i walk the cable out although i have 4 of varying lengths but it depends on how close the ehu is.

 

[Road Runner]

they possibly thought they might get a right mouthfull - just like i got onetime when i said that really you need to unwind your cable to someone,

From Moi?

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[Taran_Las]

I blame Mr. Eddy Current.

 

[Road Runner]

I blame Mr. Eddy Current.

Oh that's shocking

 

[davejen]

We were on a CC Site recently up near Durham and saw two leads still coiled up on the reel thingy, both had a load of kids bikes outside and it was cold- it don't bear thinking what could have happened if they had gone up!
Cheers, Daveoh:

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[MAUBRI]

Slightly off topic

Can you move over so I can join you on that soap box?:soaobox:


This does drive me mad too, and even more worriing when it's the van next door

I agree with you all about the coils. On a slightly differrent tact the previous owner to my Bungalow ran a 2.5m Spur from the Consumer Unit to the new Conservatory where he ran a ring to 3 double sockets. During the last cold spell, had my 3 kw Halogen Heater on for about an hour in the Conservatory when there was a small bang from the Consumer Unit, Trip had blown. Up into the loft and following the cable run found a COIL half way through the loft of about 8 tight turns which had a small box balanced on it ( cable was hiding under the loft insulation), All the cable insulation had melted and shorted out.

So its not just out in the fields you should be worried about, make sure you didn't have an idiot wire up your house.


Brian

 

[pappajohn]

a coiled cable, ie...on a drum or tightly wound etc, is dangerous but a loosely coiled cable should be ok.

make each loop around 1 mtr and spread loosely on the ground ...still quite tidy and out of the way.

tightly coiled inner loops on a drum get no cooling air and will overheat.

 

[Jaws]

mines a right pain in the a**e, its really thick and heavy and as soon as you let go of it you get an instant tangled up mess i hate that wire

Actually, that is WAY better than having it in a small coil !

And of course, yes, PJ is dead right when he says a big, loosely coiled up lead is fine.. :thumb:

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[aba]

i always run mine up and down the length of the van a couple of times then push it underneath in like a long orange snake that way if i forget to unplug it (which i haven't yet tho i have seen a few do) i get a short distance to remember before it rips the hookup post out of the ground.oh:

andy:thumb:

 

[ninjayorkies]

And there was me envying all these foreign vans over here in Europe that have theirs on little reels all neat and tightly wound! I hang the excess of mine loosely off the bike rack

 

[Jaws]

And there was me envying all these foreign vans over here in Europe that have theirs on little reels all neat and tightly wound! I hang the excess of mine loosely off the bike rack

I think they tend to get away with it purely because the average continental user knows a lot of places have quite low capabilities ( as in supply ) and are no where near so addicted to the mains as we seem to be...

But yes, without doubt they are far worse for this than we are

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[johnp10]

Theres a camp site that we stay on a couple of times a year, its near Coventry. Upon arrival you get a sheet of paper which tells you what each electrical appliance draws from the ehu.

In very bold print it says that anybody found with a coiled up ehu cable will be removed from the site immediatley. I actually have this info sheet pinned up in the kitchen area of the mh.

You so right, you see people coiling cable so that everything looks neat and tidy, its got to be that they just dont know.

Jim

Jim,
A copy of this sheet may prove useful.

 

[ninjayorkies]

I think they tend to get away with it purely because the average continental user knows a lot of places have quite low capabilities ( as in supply ) and are no where near so addicted to the mains as we seem to be...

But yes, without doubt they are far worse for this than we are

I won't moan the next time I have to try and gather up my stiff, snow covered cable then :thumb:

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

And there was me envying all these foreign vans over here in Europe that have theirs on little reels all neat and tightly wound! I hang the excess of mine loosely off the bike rack

Yes our Frankia has the lead on a coil in the locker but I pull it all off and put it under the van before I connect to the EHU.

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[Chas17]

In case of doubt this may be of interest - Link Removed

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

We deliberately dont keep our EHU leads on a reel

Well pointed out Jaws - it is SO DANGEROUS.


Remember folks

It only takes one to catch light and the wind blow in the "wrong direction" for thousands and thousands of pounds of damage to be caused

 

[wivvy's dad]

You can experience this at home.....

If you have a 'vacuum' cleaner with a self-retracting lead, leave most of it in the cleaner. When you've finished your 'hoovering', pull the lead out fully and feel for yourself how warm it is.

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[JayDee]

a coiled cable, ie...on a drum or tightly wound etc, is dangerous but a loosely coiled cable should be ok.

make each loop around 1 mtr and spread loosely on the ground ...still quite tidy and out of the way.

tightly coiled inner loops on a drum get no cooling air and will overheat.

That's how we do it; it is by far the best way of incorporating tidiness and safety - no induction coil, everything open, each loop in contact with the cool ground under the van, all nicely tucked away were you won't trip over it. :thumb:
Highly recommended.


John

 

[gozomike]

I was helping to run a course at a local school we had hired a few years ago, walked past the classroom being used for refreshments and smelt something hot (burning).
On looking into it found the Urn plugged into an extension cable which had not been fully unwound. oh:
The cable was too hot to touch.

 

[bobandjanie]

The trouble is... most people that have decided it is fine to do something one way, will think they are right. MOST others who never thought about how they are doing something are going to say the same thing..... 'Well I have never had a problem'.
Whether you are talking about coiled up EHU leads, dodgy gas refilling adapters, A frames or the way to strap a car on a trailer.... they do not want to know.
I can be the same, backless shoes whilst driving? What the hell is wrong with that? I have been in a plane where the pilot and co pilot both had bare feet (thinking about it we did land in the sea) Jane

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