EQUIPMENT WITHOUT DANGER

There is a rule. The more professional you are, the more often you make a mistake because one fine day all your knowledge and skills move into the stage of automatism when you do something without thinking and hesitating, totally getting used to it. That is where unexpected and disappointing failures begin to crop up. We develop such an attitude to household appliances. We are so used to them that we stop noticing their unusual behaviour and failures, forgetting to stick to basic safety standards, while danger may lie in wait for us at every turn.

Gas furnaces

Most recently, 25-year-old Ibrahim Sabanov and his 18-year-old wife Sahla Haciyeva were killed in their apartment in Baku. They married just three days before the accident. It would seem that a whole life lied ahead - youth, children, maturity and grandchildren - but they were poisoned by gas. Their bodies were found by their parents. Unfortunately, carbon monoxide poisoning is often the cause of death in Azerbaijan. And it is not only that uncertified gas appliances manufactured in Iran are illegally imported into Baku, about which experts of the Azariqaz production association of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan and the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents have been sounding the alarm over the last several years. Even normal equipment might fail if it is not properly operated and installed. These mistakes, which we do not always notice, are easy to eliminate. But they cost many people their lives.

"You are wrong to dislike the Iranian gas heaters so much. They are normal and harmless, you just install them incorrectly. I have such a heater at home in Iran and it has been working for 20 years, and everything is fine. We do not feel the smell of gas at home at all."

This conversation took place recently between a correspondent of R+ and an Iranian citizen who specializes in fireplaces. Having said this, he went out and looked at a chimney leading into the courtyard of a house where an Iranian heater was working at that point, and shook his head with annoyance.

"You have not installed the chimney correctly. First, the pipe that goes from your heater has many loose joints, which reduces the draught, and secondly, the necessary condition for the installation of a chimney is that it should be at least 500 mm above the roof, if the roof is flat. If it is an attic-type roof, then it must be 500 mm above the ridge of the roof and the chimney must be at a distance of 1.5 m from the ridge. There may be other options, depending on the shape of the roof. But always and everywhere, the necessary condition for the normal operation of the chimney is its elevation above the roof. In your house, the chimney does not even reach the roof, and therefore, in your case, it is extremely dangerous to use the furnace if the exhaust is not installed in a normal position," the expert warned. And every consumer should always remember that somewhere in the apartment, he needs to leave the window open, if any gas device is on.

Thus, you can avoid not only carbon monoxide poisoning but also explosions, which occur in buildings frequently as the "blue fuel" escapes and fills the room.

Of course, this does not mean that all Iranian devices sold at local wholesale markets, where they are purchased most often, shine with quality, but the words of the specialist only prove that the consumer does not always correctly operate appliances. Who knows how many lives could have been saved, had the user been more competent and attentive?

Follow the manual

Yes, we often laugh at ridiculous American manuals for the use of microwaves such as: "Do not dry pets." The inscription appeared after an American housewife tried to dry her cat in the microwave. Or the manual on the use of a buggy - "remove the child before folding it". Ridiculous instructions appear for different reasons. Sometimes a company prints clear recommendations on its products in order to avoid lawsuits. There is one well-known case when a woman, who burned herself with hot coffee bought in a cafe famous around the world, got a million dollars in damages. After that, an inscription appeared on cups of coffee: "Caution: Hot Coffee."

But in our case, hardly any Azerbaijani consumer will sue anyone over faulty equipment. Many of us are far from it - we, frankly, are no friends with instructions so as to be able to protect our consumer rights in court later, guided by the principle of "forewarned is forearmed". Laughing at the "pedantry" of foreign citizens who definitely study the manual before using something, we just say that these truths are meant only for very stupid ones. But it seems that we won't be far from the truth, if we say that many of us abuse this arrogant belief in their competence and knowledge of "everything about nothing". "We are experienced 'Soviet people' and have seen even worse!" However, purchasing a home appliance and not looking at its expiry date is the peak of consumer ignorance. Today buyers are told: "Do not buy Iranian heaters. They are dangerous!" They are offered safe stoves and oil radiators of every price category with different performance characteristics. But few know that the externally safe oil radiator might just explode if its heat regulator is broken. Incidentally, such an incident occurred in a Russian region, killing two young children. The radiator exploded in a wooden house, and drops of hot oil literally reduced the room to ashes.

Experts say that if the heat protection of the oil radiator fails, the device becomes dangerous. Its surface temperature begins to rise sharply, the oil inside the appliance starts to evaporate, and vapour pressure may damage the seams. The result is a discharge of oil, and if there is a further increase in temperature, reaching the burning point of oil, it may catch fire, leading to serious consequences. That's how the oil radiator works. Inside, there is a tank filled with oil and an electric heater which heats up the oil. To prevent it from boiling, each heater has a heat regulator or a thermostat. When the oil temperature rises, the thermostat automatically turns off the heater - that's what it should be. Putting the heater away somewhere in the attic or closet in summer, not every one of us knows that it must not be turned upside down. It should be placed only in a vertical position, including during transportation. All this is written in the manual, which we actually ignore. But before turning on the heater after the summer, it is necessary to conduct a simple test: turn it on and wait for 7 minutes. During this time, it should warm up to a maximum and shut itself off. If the heater continues to operate after 7 minutes, this means that the thermostat is broken. Such an appliance cannot be used under any circumstances. In addition, the lifetime of many oil radiators is typically less than 4 or 5 years. All this should be specified in the manual. This term is calculated for a reason. Over time, small parts in the heater can be fused and become unusable. It is not always noticeable. Therefore, once the expiry date has passed, the heater must be thrown out - the violation of the rules of operating electric heaters is a major cause of fires. At the same time, many oil heaters can be made in clandestine workshops. It is necessary to distinguish a fake oil heater when you purchase it. The body of the heater usually has a few labels. When you purchase it, you should pay attention to the fact that they are glossy and well-stamped. They indicate the manufacturer, state standard and year of manufacture. And if the label is matte, then it was made on a printer - this means that the heater is most likely a fake.

When buying a heater, you should also pay attention to what material the heater is made of. This information is available in the data sheet or on the same labels on the body. It is better to choose a heater with a heating coil made from stainless steel. If it is made from ordinary metal, the heater can only be used in absolutely dry conditions. You cannot turn it on in your country house or garage. The heating coil rusts rapidly, and the heater can explode.

Fumes from the coil

It has already been pointed out that carbon monoxide is one of the most toxic combustion products. Once in the body, it blocks oxygen supply to cells, which leads to death. Spiral and ceramic heaters do not have oil, so they cannot explode. In spiral heaters, the air is heated by a glowing coil, which is located on the surface of the device, while in a ceramic heater, the coil is hidden inside. There is one problem: when the coil is heated red hot, the dust in the air starts burning, and it becomes impossible to breathe in the room, there is not enough oxygen and carbon monoxide appears in the air.

Russian specialists, who test home appliances, conducted an experiment. In an apartment, they measured the temperature, oxygen concentration and humidity. Then they turned on spiral and ceramic heaters in turns and took the measurements again. After the spiral heater worked for 30 minutes, the room became hot and stuffy. The measurements showed that humidity fell by 3 per cent and the concentration of oxygen in the air - by 0.4 per cent. This suggests that if the heater operates at least for half a day, people in the room can feel unwell. After airing the room for half an hour, the testers turned on the ceramic heater. At this time, the room temperature rose by 4 degrees, the humidity dropped by 1 per cent and the concentration of oxygen in the air - by 0.1 per cent. Therefore, the ceramic heater is less dangerous. It burns less oxygen than the spiral heater. You can safely keep it on for 3-4 hours. However, the room will become stuffy anyway.

All these are basic rules we must be aware of and adhere to without relying on the notorious "maybe". Equipment, even if it is domestic, does not tolerate negligence and increased self-confidence. Also, be aware that while purchasing appliances, you should always be aware of whether they match the state standard. And do not economize - electric and gas appliances should be purchased in special stores rather than at the market where they often sell low-quality and non-certified goods. Not only do they quickly become unusable, they can also lead to irreversible consequences and cause great harm to health.