TV smell

[washerboy]

Just a question for you all. I got a 15inch flat screen (Magnavox) for Christmas in 2010. It's worked fine and is still working fine but it smells. I have it in my bedroom on a chest of drawers...on Tuesday mid day I ran home for lunch and to let my dogs out...there're both elderly; one lays on the bed all day and the other on a throw rug..anyway I go in the bedroom wake them up and I noticed a burning smell. I though maybe a neighbor was burning trash (yes..he does that and it's against city ordiance) but it turned out to be the TV. I do keep it on all day for my dogs..yeah I know that's silly but they love the Cartoon Network...Anyway I turned it off and it's come on and off..worked fine ever since..but when it's on I still smell a burning odor. Until I get this figured out I've got it unplug when I'm not a home. Am I just going crazy here or has anyone elese had this problem?/thanks/mark

 

[wayupnorth]

burning smell

I think it is a good idea to keep it unplugged, not knowing what the culprit can be. Its not worth risking a possible fire. Unfortunately, your TV must be out of the manufacturers warranty, so I an sure Magnavox would do nothing for you. My next door neighbor is a fire inspector and is very anal about unplugging just about everything, especially anything that generates heat, like toasters, coffee makers, hair dryers, etc. TV's always keep current running through them so even if shut off, they still can cause a fire.

 

[paulg]

LCD TVs that create odors

LCD TVs that operate but create odors have many causes. However, a common cause is a faulty connection at one of the lamp sockets for the backlight. The connection overheats and creates odors as the plastic connector arcs or overheats. This can happen on virtually any brand of LCD TV.
Unplug the unit. If you catch it early it can usually be fixed.
Then call Magnavox (Funai) and ask for a free evaluation for a possible safety issue. See what they can do. Good things come your way if you ask nice...

 

[arbilab]

Safety issues transcend warranty. It's not EVER supposed to smoke, no matter how old it gets. Call them. Sound worried. Tell them it smells like smoke when it's on and you're afraid to operate it.

If they still blow you off, contact the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

 

[qualin]

Personally, I would take a hammer to the screen so nobody else can use it and e-cycle it, then buy a new one.

Unless it has some kind of special meaning to you, it's not worth it to have to deal with the time and effort of getting it repaired or replaced with a freebie. (IMHO)

It sucks that it burnt out this early in its life, but unless it's under warranty, I wouldn't bother spending any time on it.

If you really want, upgrade to a 19" model instead, then when people ask, say that the old set was "Too small".

Interestingly enough, I still use a 14" CRT in my bedroom which dates back to 1991. Far more interesting things end up going wrong with a CRT than an LCD!

 

[washerboy]

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you, Thank you!!!! I try to be as thrifty as possible, but I'm just going to trash the thing and buy a new one. I turned in on for a while last night and I could smell it..it sorta has a "slow buring" wood smell..I actually thought for a moment the top of the chest of drawers was cooking..but it wasn't. I have another TV pre-flat screen in my spare bedroom. I moved it in my bedroom for the moment until I can spend a little time shopping. When I went home yesterday at lunch I looked my elderly lab laid out across the bed...I'd never forgive myself if she died in a house fire that I could have prevented by throwing something questionalbe in the trash. I thought about calling Magnovox but either way I'd still worry about a fire. Thanks again for the inputs!!!

 

[wayupnorth]

washerboy

I think you are wise to just get rid of that questionable tv. Basically all of the newer TV's have current running thru them constantly to keep the memory intact and even older ones that had the instant on feature did too. I have all my tv's on a power strip so that I can switch all the power off easily. My fire inspector neighbor said he has seen way too many fires caused by things that people have shut off but still draw current, shorted out, and caused a fire. I can relate to your elderly dog, as I have a 13 year old Golden Retriever who is the best girl in the world but is really showing her age now. I know the end is coming but I wished it would be prolonged as long as possible and it would kill me if something happened to her that I could have prevented.

 

[sudsmaster]

Maybe it's just Smell-O-Vision?

Have you been watching videos of forest fires?

The movie Backdraft?

Fahrenheit 491?

;-)

 

[sudsmaster]

Seriously, I agree, either get the TV fixed or dump it.

I know a family who lost their delta island vacation home to a fire a year or two ago. It started in a CD player that overheated and caught fire. Burned the entire place, including their boats, down to nothing. They knew the thing was running hot but didn't unplug it when they left after a weekend. Kind of makes you wonder how many of our electrical appliances and electronic gadgets really are safe to leave unattended, even if turned off but plugged in.

It probably helps to buy quality stuff to begin with.

 

[neptunebob]

But I have heard that TV fires are not new as I found out from an older volunteer firefighter.  Back in the early 60's there were some TV sets that had less than the best components (maybe the capacitors?).  This fire company would get a lot of calls on Sunday night for TV fires.  Turns out that CBS aired "Gunsmoke" at that time and the show would begin with a gun going off, then the TV would burst into flames or smoke.   Could it be that your TV had a repeat of Gunsmoke on?

 

[cfz2882]

TV smoke

grandparents of a co-worker once had a late-'90s/early 2000s era zenith TV go bad
while in use and it smoked up the house-though there didn't seem to have been an
actual fire,they called the fire dept who carried the TV outside and ventilated
the smoke out of the house.I wanted to get that TV to examine what went wrong,but
they had thrown it the dumpster already. Also i once heard of a fire locally that
was blamed on a computer moniter(this was back in the CRT days)so haven been
given a load of old computers that included several monitors,i tried to replicate
failures to see if i could create a possible fire risk-a little smoke is all i got
even with the fuse bypassed...I even tried to ignite them with a propane torch-
that just caused some scorching-appanently they were all made with fire-retardant
plastic,they varied in vintage from 1986-'91(was 1998 when i did this)

 

[wayupnorth]

I would still rather be safe than sorry. All my things that could generate the least bit of heat are on a power strip that I can shut completely off when not in use or unplugged from the outlet. I dont care if it takes a little longer for this old computer to power up. After getting a valuable lesson in safety from my next door neighbor, fire inspector. I wont trust anything in a wall outlet from the horror stories of people losing everything and some, their lives due to some stupid electical short that could have been prevented by just cutting the current to it. My towns fire department is farther away from me than Walmart. So we are pretty much on our own and I aint gonna take any chances.

 

[cfz2882]

a couple household potential electrical fire hazards to watch for are wall outlets
that can get wet repeatadly;near a sink,behind aquarium,near a window that gets
left open,etc.-if the outlet gets wet often enough,tracking can occur and they can
short out-generating lots of heat,sparks, and flame before enough current is pulled
to trip the circuit breaker or fuse-these "arc fault"shorts are very hazardus and
and much more likely to cause a fire than a loose connection or a direct short
that near instantly trips the breaker or fuse.Another potential hazard is outlets
that are wired "daisy chain"-if there is a loose connection behind one,that one
can heat up from a load plugged into an outlet further up the chain...(i think
this connection method is no longer allowed though)

 

[wayupnorth]

You're right cfz2282, any outlet near water should have at least a GFI or even a whole house GFI as a backup. Sometimes electric can be more dangerous than gas. I have no more than 3 outlets on a seperate circuit breaker in my house but code does allow more. The first place I rented on my own had 7 total outlets in the whole place on 1 20 amp plug fuse on old knob and tube wiring in the whole apartment. Every time the refigerator started, the tv picture would close up and the lights dimmed. I dont know why that place never burned down. The new owner spent 20 grand rewiring all 8 apartments to bring it up to code. Another good idea is a whole house surge protector in the breaker box. I'd rather be safe than sorry.