"I touched it and it blew"!

[micdundee]

early morning call. customer has an up/down two zone system and the down stairs damper isn't opening. he said he walked over to adjust the stat and when he touched it static elec. jumped from his finger and after that, he noticed no air flow down stairs. didn't think to ask why he needed to ajust a programmable w.r. stat but sure enough it was not throwing power. replaced with a vision pro, checked all functions. all ok! never seen that before. took that opportunity to stress importantance of a humidifier.

[coolguysfl]

I believe it.

In fact I have photos of a Robert-Shaw 24V T/stat that burst into flames, while our tech was on site ------ every once in a while there's a wild card out there.

[EarthLoop]

I believe it.

In fact I have photos of a Robert-Shaw 24V T/stat that burst into flames, while our tech was on site ------ every once in a while there's a wild card out there.



common now... you can't make a wild claim like that and then not post the pic.... lets see it :D

[smokin68]

I believe it.

In fact I have photos of a Robert-Shaw 24V T/stat that burst into flames, while our tech was on site ------ every once in a while there's a wild card out there.


Yeah, when you send the wrong voltage to it....:D:D

I say bullcrap, plastic stats don't discharge static.:) YES, I'd have to see it.

[micdundee]

hey, i didn't say that was the cause of the failure. but with this customer, (long term) i believe his discharge story. it was an older wr. prog. stat with no back lighting and proging. buttons along the bottom. i've never seen or heard tell of this either. that's why i threw it out, to see if anyone else had.go figure! like the man said ,fact is stranger than fiction!!!

[rsmith46]

I believe it.

In fact I have photos of a Robert-Shaw 24V T/stat that burst into flames, while our tech was on site ------ every once in a while there's a wild card out there.

Isn't that a strange coincidence that your tech just happened to be there.:confused:

[johnl]

I blew a honeywell digital off the wall in a classroom once, stupid all in one HRV Heat/Cool unit, troubleshooting the heat sequencers and had a meter lead slip and shorted the 240 circuit to the 24v. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge bang and all the magic smoke was gone outa the stat (there was lots) I felt like an a$$ until the school maintenance man did the exact same thing a week later lol

[coolguysfl]

common now... you can't make a wild claim like that and then not post the pic.... lets see it :D

I know, I know & I agree it does sound like crap, or you'd have to say --- sure bozo, when you hit it w/ 220V

I PROMISE you, all we did to remedy the "problem" was to replace the stat. I also paid an electrician to go behind us and ck everything possible -- too wierd, you bet.

I'll find the photos & get 'em posted ---- I sent the T/stat to the Robertshaw folks at THIER request.

[BobbyBJr]

Its been a few years, but I had a bank call me and tell me the Honeywell stat we had installed with their new system had caught fire and burned up and the fire department had just left. I'm like, come on now, the fire department over a smoked thermostat? But when I got there the thing had melted completely off the wall and made a big black hole in the wall paper. I checked out the system and found it just sitting there ready to run, so I jumped R to G and the thing ran. I spliced the tstat wire and put up another stat and everything ran fine. I never had any idea what happened.

Bobby

[coolguysfl]

I know this is incredible -- but the photos don't lie:

We've all seen mishaps w/ heat anticipators........

For those "looking for the rest of the story" --- yes its true I had a SENIOR tech on the job when this mishap occurred, he was only there doing routine cooling maintenance.

Never blew a fuse, never shorted out the transformer - no damage at all - just got the Tstat to the point of combustion - my tech actually blew out the open flames licking the wall... the flip up front is all that kept open flames from hitting the wall.

New Tstat - NO wiring repairs, unit runs like a top since '03

[smokin68]

No high voltage wires in the wall behind it hit with a mounting screw??? Definetly a weird one.

[EarthLoop]

come on now.... obviously you took a torch to that:D

[mrfixit-ms]

was this t/s battery b/u?

[grumpy20716]

In photo 3 is the black wire r-c or com? I see a jumper wire there

[micdundee]

as a matter of fact, it was.

[grumpy20716]

If black (com) and Red (24 v) are jumpered it is a direct short

[srmfsr]

I got a call Friday that the customer's t-stat was reading 80 and it was 69 in the office. When I got there the t-stat was warm and so was the sheetrock around it. I pulled it loose from the wall and the wall cooled down but the stat remained warm.
I replaced it and all was well. The new one was reading 69 and the wall was cool.
It was a WR digital, programmable. I've still got it in the van. It had 3--AA batteries across the top.
The customer said it had never been right.

[qssfl]

You would think if it was a low voltage short on the system wiring end... It would of taken out the transformer. This appears to be all within the stat itself....

Wow... Scary:eek:

We had a Honeywell T87F melt down and burn some wallpaper due to shorted low voltage wiring in the condensing unit after the roofing/a/c co wired it up :D .......but this one is really cooked!!!

[micdundee]

this was the same stat! since you've had a similar experience with the same stat, i'm thinking that they were'nt designed to handle the amp draw that newer equipment puts on them. could be that the static electricity was just enough to take it over the edge. how does that sound for a logical answer????

[40_cents]

[QUOTE=coolguysfl;1362235]I know this is incredible -- but the photos don't lie:

We've all seen mishaps w/ heat anticipators........

For those "looking for the rest of the story" --- yes its true I had a SENIOR tech on the job when this mishap occurred, he was only there doing routine cooling maintenance.

Looks to me like the T-Stat was really in a call for heat... :p

[srmfsr]

................. could be that the static electricity was just enough to take it over the edge. how does that sound for a logical answer????

I don't think so. I think that the current draw of the load on the stat coupled with all the electronics on that board was drawing creating the heat. It is an unusally large board for a stat.

Just my opinion.

After I took the system off the stat and with the batteries still in, the stat cooled down.