polystyrene tiles

In a kitchen polystyrene tiles are a terrible idea. Near impossible to clean and a fire hazard – rip em all off!

I thought they was banned a few years back. Should be anyhow.

Steve, I thought so too but before posting a hard comment I needed to do some research. I was stunned to find that they are not actually illegal though snide comments were made about so called flame retardant modern versions. The implications being that anyone who used them was the retarded one not the tiles.

If you are very lucky they were applied with dabs of adhesive, but because a fire could loosen them when done that way some were really bonded on with wodges of sticky stuff so good luck in a case like that.

I could find no reference to it being banned anywhere and frankly I was stunned. After several really bad fires recently I found it disturbing that cladding that was clearly a fire risk could still be used internally in both residential owner occupied properties but also in rented properties. There were comments about recommending when work was done heave ’em out, but if treated with ordinary emulsion with no work planned you are still good to go.

The recent investigations have hinted that building regulations and fire regulations have become a dog’s dinner over the years, but that was enough to give the dog the runs as far as I was concerned.

If anyone has better information please don’t just speak SHOUT!

Drezha could probably comment better than I, but in my memory of the film a kitchen fire was started with a burning chip pan being turned into a bomb by someone spraying water into it (the initiator wore an asbestos suit and breathing equipment). The resulting fireball hit the ceiling, and ignited a bunch of dripping fires in the tiles, these then produced extremely dense black poisonous smoke which rolled over the whole ceiling and extended down to waist level. The ceiling continued to cook off then reached the flashpoint of the hydrocarbons in the smoke and there was a sudden explosion of fire in the test kitchen accompanied by a rain of burning polystyrene liquid droplets.

Thinking back, it was probably a multi-purpose film of that time, both for a domestic audience (never throw water into a flaming chip pan) and fire-fighters (beware of flash-over, and keep low).

I guess it was a good training  film, as since that date our kitchens have always had a fire-blanket handy to put over any fires.

Yes, @Edp, I think that was one of the films I saw. Chip pans can be very dangerous and water nor sand should ever be used.There was another similar thing where the small fire started in a corner and could have been killed by a fire blanket, but within maybe 30 seconds the heat ignited the ceiling tiles, the rest was very much more rapid, about 5 seconds saw the whole ceiling ignite, the TV and appliances cooked off, their toxic smoke ignited, aerosols burst and the room was really destroyed, the explosions took out the walls.

I had a practical demonstration, for real not a film of how a fire blanket could imitate a pulse jet engine. Pan caught fire and the blanket went on smothering the fire, but the heat of the pan caused the blanket to move, that admitted some air and the fire restarted. The blanket moved and the fire went down, then the cycle repeated. not a pretty site on the dining room table, the pan was a fondue pan. Careful hand work stopped the blanket moving and the fire was controlled and then left for an hour or so to cool, remember the pan stayed above the oil flashpoint for a long time with the heat held in.

Far worse and very like the water on a chip pan was one of my staff who lived in a third floor flat that backed onto waste land. His pan went up so he tried to carry it out side onto his balcony. Then the near fatal step, he tipped the very hot oil over the edge thinking that the encounter with the air would cool it rapidly and kill the fire. It simply broke the oil into tiny droplets and allowed much of the stuff to turn to vapour while still above the flashpoint. The result was a huge plume of flame that went many feet above his head and reached down nearly to the floor. His arm was somewhere near the epicentre. As I recall he did the best thing and plunged the arm into cold running water for a long time then wrapped the wet hand and arm in clean something, it might have been cling film and went to the hospital. His hand survived.

It was very fortunate that the balcony was solid so the fire could not get through to set his body on fire. At least David lived to tell the tale and show the results as a warning to others.

By best friend done something very similar Richard. One night after the pub, the idiot decided to make chips, he nodded off, was awoken by the smoke alarm. He decided to pick up the pan, and carry outside. He didn’t trip or anything, but made a mess of his hands.

He learnt a lesson that night. One he should of already know. Iirc he wad about 22 at the time.

Chip pan fires, brings back a painful memory:

58 years ago, shortly before my 14th birthday, I was looking after my 9 and 7 yo nephews at our house while my SIL was visiting their dad, my big bro, in hospital. My parents had gone to Nottingham to buy what I later learned was a radiogram for my birthday, for delivery on the day. They gave me and the lads strict instructions about what not to do: they knew that the 3 of us were a triple accident always in danger of happening! My nephews and I were always very close and wandered the local countryside together with our dog Patch, getting up to all kinds of mischief.

We had a coal oven and a coal fire and the boys wanted chips. Local chippy being closed at the time, I decided to get the chip pan out and do some egg & chip meals. Of course that meant putting the pan directly on the coals, which I had done may times before. No adult had expressly forbidden cooking before they left. Mindful of the fact that the 9 yo had been badly scalded by a pan of boiling potatoes as a 2yo, I kept the boys well away from the pan, until the 7yo shouts “Pan is tipping!” and grabs it. It was not tipping, just slightly askew on the coals and his action caused it to tip, with predictable results. I flung him out of the way, grabbed the flaming pan and carried it slowly towards the short space to the outside door. My mam had left the ‘Ewbank’ carpet sweeper outside the first door and I tripped over it, but had the presence of mind to throw it outside with a huge heave from my prone position. Didn’t know until afterwards, but that took out about 2 inches of hair and my eyebrows. The pan had landed miraculously upright and was now a beacon of flame. I fetched a heavy old wartime “Blackout” blanket that was used to cover floors when decorating, folded it a few times and covered the pan. It extinguished the flames eventually and I walked back in, beginning to feel the results upon my head and face. The lads burst out laughing at my red face, missing head and facial hair.

I will draw a veil over what happened when my parents returned, except to say that their different temperaments were displayed: mam screaming invective and terrible punishments upon me, dad taking her to one side and calming her down, then sending her to her mates’ house before sitting me down and tearing me to pieces quietly and very calmly. That was worse than the screaming, much worse.

As my nephews grew older and we often met for a drink or a Forest match, they would remind me of the day “I almost burnt Granddad’s house down.” Well, that was their exaggerated version anyway. They would always laugh uproariously at Uncle Bob’s embarrassment, of course!

Both those guys are gone now, cancer and massive heart attack in their very early 50’s. I loved them like kid brothers and I will miss them, together with their dad and mam, until my last day.

RIP Eric, Marion, Mike and Alan Williams. A very big part of my life.

I was on a Pan Am 747 flight when a woman found out why you should not use those lighters in the small room. She and the plane survived (happily for my wife and me) though the woman and the plane were both shaken, the woman the more so, I think she lost some hair. The plane continued OK but the stewardesses came round to explain the bump and apologise. I suspect they would have liked the passenger in question to have also enjoyed a parachute free exit and descent from 40,000 feet, as a main course to follow her aperitif.

Even a sun heated aerosol can can remove a wall and window, it happened to a relative. The wall was repaired but the husband died from a heart attack very soon after.