Paranoid About My Radios

[12jslater]

One of my favourite things to do is sit down in my armchair on an evening with a cup of tea and listen to the wireless I use a spitfire transmitter and play 30s-40s dance band compilations through my radio and just as I feel I'm getting lost in the music I get paranoid about the radio catching fire or breaking for no reason even though I've used it for ages ,serviced it and every morning listen to it for around 30 minutes. How can I stop this? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks, Jake

[Cobaltblue]

No I don't

These were domestic Radios designed to be on for hours at a time in there normal working life.

They are not likely to catch fire and if they do go wrong..... you just fix it

To me its a part of the joy of these sets.

Cheers

Mike T

[Lloyd 1985]

In all the years I've been collecting and using radio's and TV's, I've so far not had any fires! I've had a few break down on me, usually nothing too serious, the worst so far has been a TV22 who's line output transformer has shorted primary to secondary, it was a very quiet failure, the picture went out of sync and lost width and focus, and eventually the screen went dark.

I also did a display of working vintage TV's at a vintage festival in 2011, where several sets were subjected to over 8 hours non stop play time, not one of them failed! Well, not on the day anyway, the TV22 I mentioned was on display there, but it died later in 2014.

I think you have the right idea, giving your radio some play time every day, I was once told the best thing to do is use a set often to keep it healthy. I think so long as you use the radio as it was designed to be, give it plenty of space for ventilation and have a suitably rated fuse in the plug it should be fine, and you can sit back and enjoy it. And if it does break down, make sure you have another set on hand to quickly swap it with while you repair it!

Regards,
Lloyd.

[paulsherwin]

I can't think of any faults with a restored valve radio that would result in an actual fire. The very worst that's likely to happen is some smelly smoke or loud frightening crackles. If a radio develops a fault in normal use you just fix it.

It's wise not to leave old radios powered up unattended, but with that proviso I don't think there's anything to worry about. Modern wall warts and phone chargers are much more likely to start a fire (though it's still unlikely).

[Boater Sam]

If it's the loss of a working radio rather than the fire risk that concerns you, the answer is simple.
You need lots of back up radios!
Collect a few dozen and the paranoia goes away.

[ct92404]

I'm a bit new to fixing antique radios, but I've been collecting them for years - since around 1999-2000. I often listen to them for several hours, and sometimes even all day, and I have never had a problem. There are very few things in any electrical device that would cause a catastrophic failure like what you've described. If a resistor burns out, it will melt and you will see and smell a little smoke, but then the circuit will be open and it will just stop working. A capacitor can also fail and it may cause a short circuit (which I've learned just recently) - but you will most likely just wind up with a burned resistor and an open circuit. If you have replaced the capacitors in your radios which are likely to fail, then you shouldn't really have anything to worry about since modern capacitors are much more reliable. I suppose another thing that could happen is a power transformer could fail, but really windings on transformers don't just spontaneously burn out, that really only happens if the transformer has been shorted or severely overloaded. I don't have a lot of experience with antique radios, but I have worked a lot with transformers in other projects and even experiments I've done, and I have never had one just suddenly stop working. Some other part always fails before the transformer.

My whole point is that I just can't think of any way that you would have a catastrophic failure that actually leads to a radio catching fire. Especially if you've restored it. If anything does go wrong, it should pretty much be self-limiting...a resistor fails, which causes the circuit to be open, so no more current can flow through it. You may get a small pop or puff of smoke if a capacitor goes bad (unlikely with modern capacitors), or get a little smoke if a resistor burns. But that's all. The radio is NOT going to catch fire or blow up!

Any problems that do happen should be pretty easy to fix.

Listen to your radios and enjoy them! That's what they're meant for!

- Chris

[toshiba tony]

I feel paranoid putting some of my gear on at home, not my 60\70s stuff but the gear made in the last 5 years. I work for LG and it's rubbish, as is most makers gear. Whilst it's not exactly vintage I have a Toshiba w\s in the back room. It's never flickered in 20 years. I have an led tv in the front room, 18 months old and it's on it's second set of backlights. I have top end 70s hi-fi (pre cd) and I'm never worried about it. My kids modern audio units, forget it, if it's not a laser failing it's one of these crazy class D output stages failing.
Please call Dr Ferguson or Dr Marconiphone on the valve ward if you have any further issues. And enjoy your music. Take care.

[ukcol]

I agree with the general sentiment of the replies that there is no need to worry about your radio catching fire.

I do, however, agree with Paul Sherwin that it might not be a good idea to leave a radio on whilst you go on holiday.

[Aerodyne]

Paul Sherwin as usual is spot-on with his commonsense approach. In all the many years I've worked on domestic radio and TV, I have never encountered any burn-up that spread beyond the chassis or the PCB. Such burn-ups, quite regular at one time with TVs(!) have always self-limited.
Follow Paul's advice and enjoy your radios without worry.

Tony

[The Philpott]

I can relate to this; paranoia can be quite insidious, and finds purchase when your mind wanders to any possessions that are ancient, rare, obsolete, or have sentimental value.

In the fight against my own negative thoughts i rationalise that if something is not used (and seen) it has much less relevance- and may as well be in a crate among the many seen at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

As protection against leaving things on too long- the good old rotary timeswitch- i have 6 of these 'silent brains' and wouldn't be without them

[MurphyNut]

Firstly I'm very much like you and enjoying having a spitfire transmitter and listening to vintage music through my old radios. It's a great thing to have when you really want to listen to them but there's nothing interesting on MW or LW.
I don't think you'll ever have a radio burst into flames, more likely it will just stop working or start to perform badly.
If you are a bit paranoid and cant reassure yourself, just switch the radio off at the plug when you're not in the same room listening to it.
These old sets are a joy to own and should be enjoyed.

[HamishBoxer]

Well the only major fire (house) I am aware of in my many years of servicing was a Bush TV56 type that the line transformer went up and fired the house.

Of course if stuff is left playing to itself then there must all ways be a risk.New or old stuff that is.
Never knew of a radio going up though.Enjoy and be sensible or if the fear is that bad,get rid of all the radios.

[dazzlevision]

Hello,

I agree with the general consensus that you are unlikely to have any serious problems with old valved equipment failures. However, in case you haven't seen this "sticky" thread, it might be helpful to you:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=101998

I have restored/repaired hundreds of old radios and TVs and I always carry out basic safety checks, after all necessary repairs have been made.

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[Leon Crampin]

As has been stated above, use your radios - inactivity is not good for them and electrolytics will deform and switches and contacts will tarnish.

Other than the obvious precautions of good restoration in safety critical areas, preferably including an insulation test at 500V on the mains transformer insulation, primary to chassis, I would take two additional precautions.

Use a 13A plug and fit it with a 1A fuse to BS 1362. Ensure that the outlet serving the radio is protected by an RCD with a trip current not exceeding 30mA. Earth the chassis (AC sets only) either with a 3 core mains lead or (less ideally) via the "earth" socket. This will enable the RCD to do its job.

AC/DC sets or any others with high dissipation droppers cannot generally have their chassis earthed. The RCD and 1A fuse give useful protection to these sets - always ensuring that the chassis is at neutral potential. Mark any reversible sockets, as used for example on the DAC90A.

Personally, I would never leave an AC/DC set unattended, and would always keep it well away from flammable materials. Otherwise, just enjoy using them.

Leon.

[Biggles]

AC/DC sets with the dial lamps in series with the supply to the radio effectively have "fuses" rated at the dial lamp current. These lamps would normally protect the set long before the plug top fuse would. Obviously this is not the case with every AC/DC set, and may not provide protection against say a mains switch going faulty. Some sets have their own low value fuses attached to the chassis but I must admit this is not very common. I tend not to worry too much about failure, but I wouldn't normally leave a radio on when not in attendance, unless it was something I had made myself with new components. I normally unplug a set from the mains socket while not in use, but in the many years of tinkering with electronics, I can't recall one fire. Smoke and nasty smells...plenty!
Alan.

[Restoration73]

I would keep two different fire extinguishers to hand to appease any insurer.

[kalee20]

Originally Posted by Leon Crampin

Personally, I would never leave an AC/DC set unattended, and would always keep it well away from flammable materials.

I'd actually view conventional AC/DC radios (or just DC) as safer than AC radios. They have a resistive dropper, so yes get hot, but it's known and designed-for.

Whereas, I did once have a mains transformer suddenly spring a shorted turn on me, get hot, sizzle, and smoke. I didn't wait for any flames, I wish I had...

The history was a radio I'd bought, which I suspect hadn't seen any use for a long time. It did run for an hour or so before this happened.

A 1A fuse in the mains plug is a really good recommendation.

[turretslug]

I wonder if any statistics are available? Waxies always struck me as incendiary devices-in-waiting. When renovating, I'm wary of small wirewounds which can run fiercely hot for a long time if there's a downstream short- nowadays, it's possible to get 2,3, even 5W flameproof film types which will go fsssst, open fairly quickly. Maybe it's just that I started electronic repair in the days when sections of semiconductor appliances would often be fed from the main rails via low-value fusible film resistors, I saw enough dead-short ICs (in particular) to make me think of it as a wise precaution in general.

I had this https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=77149 happen to me. I still listen to my radios without worry, I make sure they are off when not attended.

[G6Tanuki]

Pragmatically, I consider that any radio I'm not prepared to trust to be used for regular, extended periods needs further work.


I don't keep switching things on and off though - I turn the AF gain down if I'm leaving a radio but know I~ll be using it again later that day.

Many older radios take a significant time to become thermally-stable after switch-on and I don't like having to spend time fiddling with the tuning to prevent a SSB station turning into Pinky&Perky as the receiver's internals heat up and the LO/BFO drift in opposite directions!