When a PC catches fire

[Splinterdog]

A customer phoned to bring his PC in for me to fix, saying that it had caught fire and his dad had sprayed it with a fire extinguisher. That, in itself was alarming since I had no idea what type of extinguisher, or even if the entire PC was fried.
When he arrived in a cloud of dust and plonked the PC down, I was relieved to see that only powder had been used. But what a mess it makes. Goes absolutely everywhere and I'm sure I couldn't get rid of every speck. (even with soap and water in the strip-down)
Anyway, I stripped it down completely, cleaned everything and rebuilt it. Luckily, no damage was done, except to the culprit, the DVD drive, which I had to bin.
Those Molex to SATA adaptors can catch fire and this is not the first time I've had a flaming PC as a result of using those adaptors. Best avoided.

 

[infrared]

Wow, I wouldn't have expected one of those connectors to go, there must have been a dead short in the drive as there's no way it pulls enough current to do that in normal operation.

How did the cleaning go? I think I'd have just thrown all the components in the dishwasher, looks like a nightmare cleaning that powder!

 

[Durvelle27]

Normally cheaper adapters have that common risk. Most quality adapters with thicker gauge wire and better insulation don’t have those type of problems.

 

[micropage7]

Looks like from low quality cables
I ever bought that type and what i found after i keep it for about 1 year the cable got oxidation badly and turning into ash

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

I am using a Molex->Sata adapter in my PC. Should I be worried?

 

[silentbogo]

Yep, that's the adapter's fault. Had one that burned a brand-new HDD about 10 years ago or so. Good thing it only needed one diode replacement.
That's why I stopped using those (or molex to 6-pin PCIe adapters), unless I make them myself.
Usually it's a lackluster crimping job that makes them burn... though sometimes it's underrated wiring, which is claimed to be 18-20AWG, but in reality is low-quality 28-30AWG with thicker insulation.

Also not too long ago I had one also from a customer. Older PSU w/o SATA power, new HDD: poof and some magic smoke.
That one had a badly damaged SATA power connector. Had to replace it along with some passive components on a PCB...

 

[micropage7]

I am using a Molex->Sata adapter in my PC. Should I be worried?

just recheck it again, if the quality is good it should be safe

 

[eidairaman1]

Not heavy enough gauge of wire,

By the way get this stuff for hard to reach areas and a soft bristle tooth brush.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103...t24J4Y8LKVoKugxh7d0AabTXz5PwEeS0aAvDREALw_wcB

 

[AsRock]

Not heavy enough gauge of wire,

By the way get this stuff for hard to reach areas and a soft bristle tooth brush.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103...t24J4Y8LKVoKugxh7d0AabTXz5PwEeS0aAvDREALw_wcB

Maybe not even real copper wire, seen some of that chinese crap were it's only coated in copper.

 

[Solaris17]

Those Molex to SATA adapters can catch fire and this is not the first time I've had a flaming PC as a result of using those adapters. Best avoided.

Agreed, iv also dealt with a few customer fires and I have seen these adapters fail and be the cause most of the time. I have worked in an industry for many years and while its still not often enough to be common, Only a few of the fires iv seen were because of something else.

Of course I have also just seen those adapters melt (no fire). which seems to be more of the time. Agreed, best not to use those time bombs. If I had too though I would use a manufacturer supplied one. Most of the ones iv seen fail, like the one in your post are after market. Super chintzy stuff.

 

[eidairaman1]

Agreed, iv also dealt with a few customer fires and I have seen these adapters fail and be the cause most of the time. I have worked in an industry for many years and while its still not often enough to be common, Only a few of the fires iv seen were because of something else.

Of course I have also just seen those adapters melt (no fire). which seems to be more of the time. Agreed, best not to use those time bombs. If I had too though I would use a manufacturer supplied one. Most of the ones iv seen fail, like the one in your post are after market. Super chintzy stuff.

Id say it needs to be at least 16 guage copper, not clad.

 

[Solaris17]

Id say it needs to be at least 16 guage copper, not clad.

yeah I can agree with that, gauge is super important for sure. And alot of them use alu instead of copper.

 

[infrared]

thoughts, not really directed at anyone:
It's definitely important to have good quality wire, crimps etc.. But the current optical drives use is pretty low, most are no more than 2-3A on the 12V which certainly doesn't require 16 guage copper wire (capable of 20A+). Nothing wrong with going overkill I guess, the big difference would be under a fault condition.. if the drive fails and starts drawing a very large amount of currant, a decent quality wire would hopefully conduct enough power to trigger OCP on the power supply, whereas a low quality low guage wire will melt/catch fire.

edit - you'd think molex/sata cables would be fused, would be a sensible idea but I don't think any psu does this.

 

[eidairaman1]

thoughts, not really directed at anyone:
It's definitely important to have good quality wire, crimps etc.. But the current optical drives use is pretty low, most are no more than 2-3A on the 12V which certainly doesn't require 16 guage copper wire (capable of 20A+). Nothing wrong with going overkill I guess, the big difference would be under a fault condition.. if the drive fails and starts drawing a very large amount of currant, a decent quality wire would hopefully conduct enough power to trigger OCP on the power supply, whereas a low quality low guage wire will melt/catch fire.

edit - you'd think molex/sata cables would be fused, would be a sensible idea but I don't think any psu does this.

Idk if they put fuse blocks in, i know fuseable links are ok but Id rather have a replaceable fuse...

 

[Vario]

I run molex to fan wires.

Is this a bad move?


Maybe I'll run the fans off the board instead.

 

[infrared]

Idk if they put fuse blocks in, i know fuseable links are ok but Id rather have a replaceable fuse...

Thats kinda what I was thinking, it'd be a good feature on modular supplies where you could have a replacable fuse would be in the cable itself or something.

@Vario Nah, You're fine

 

[eidairaman1]

I run molex to fan wires.

Is this a bad move?
View attachment 113382

Maybe I'll run the fans off the board instead.

No thats fine, i have fans run off a rheostat fan controller and both sides use molex. Fan hubs on mobos can be a pain except for cpu fsns

 

[Vario]

No thats fine, i have fans run off a rheostat fan controller and both sides use molex. Fan hubs on mobos can be a pain except for cpu fsns

I made these fan headers off of some junk molex so for peace of mind I might just run them all off the board.
The fans are
2x .36 A
2x .6 A
1x .70 A

 

[eidairaman1]

I made these fan headers off of some junk molex so for peace of mind I might just run them all off the board.
The fans are
2x .36 A
2x .6 A
1x .70 A

As long as the crimps and solder joints are clean and shielded properly-should=no problems

 

[Splinterdog]

I try to avoid these adaptors now, if I can. On another occasion the same thing happened with a new 3Tb hdd, which fortunately wasn't damaged.
I also had a crappy PSU literally explode on the first switch on. Smell of fish everywhere.

 

[Vario]

As long as the crimps and solder joints are clean and shielded properly-should=no problems

Well this mobo has 5 PWM headers so I put one fan per header, thats better for peace of mind. Previous motherboard only had 1 PWM header (CPU Fan), but now I don't need to run the wire tangle.

I try to avoid these adaptors now, if I can. On another occasion the same thing happened with a new 3Tb hdd, which fortunately wasn't damaged.
I also had a crappy PSU literally explode on the first switch on. Smell of fish everywhere.

Probably electrolytic capacitor, those things can stink bad.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Two things.

(1) Typically, electrical fires will quickly extinguish themselves once the power is removed. So, if you are present when or shortly after the fire starts, quickly pulling the power cord from the wall will typically end the threat of burning the house down - and eliminate the need for using a fire extinguisher. That's not to say don't be ready with an extinguisher in hand. Just note pulling the power cord may be enough.

I've had two computers go up in smoke over the years. One due to a faulty PSU (which was actually spewing flames out the back), another due to the motherboard. Yanking the power cord immediately stopped the flames - and quickly lugging the computers out to the driveway isolated the threats and minimized stinking up the house.

(2) I don't care how old that DVD drive is - I would send it back to the maker with a little sarcastic note saying, "Thanks a lot!".

 

[jboydgolfer]

this is why i keep Co2 or other electronic "friendly" extinguishers. their great to have on hand, and arent SUPEr expensive, especially when you consider the cost of not having them

 

[Bill_Bright]

If the budget is a concern, you can get this twin pack of small extinguishers for just $10. These are general purpose extinguishers but are good for "Class C" (electrical fires) too. And while they are "aqueous" (water) based, they spew a non-conductive foam.

These clearly are for small fires, and even the warning label on the can states, "not intended to replace an NFPA 10 compliant fire extinguisher". But these are certainly better than you standing there doing nothing while watching your computer set your entire house on fire.

 

[27MaD]

I am using a Molex->Sata adapter in my PC. Should I be worried?

If it's a cheap-low quality adapter , yeah take care.