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Can a wooden amp case be a fire hazard?

A

Airegin

New Member
I'm getting a bit paranoid about this. I've recapped and resoldered every joint of an 1978 Rotel RA-314 which has a wooden case. It works good but I'm still worried that if anything ever goes wrong, the wooden case could be a potential fire hazard.

Has it happened before?
 
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I certainly hope not ... <G>

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Well that's pretty thick wood. My case is only about 4mm (0.15 inch) thick. It would catch fire more easily.
 
Airegin said:
Can a wooden amp case be a fire hazard?
I'm getting a bit paranoid about this. I've recapped and resoldered every joint of an 1978 Rotel RA-314 which has a wooden case. It works good but I'm still worried that if anything ever goes wrong, the wooden case could be a potential fire hazard.

Has it happened before?
Click to expand...

Well...these weren't,
And they are stuffed full of vacuum tubes which "by design" make heat.

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Yup ... your great grand daddy listened to one of those "hot boxes" and survived at least long enough to have your daddy ... it's not like wood cases and hot glowing tubes is a new concept.

I just rebuilt a 7 tuber - Listening to AM skip just ain't the same on a sand radio ...

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I thought about adding a digital player to listen to old time radio programs, but that just ain't right. Plan B is to build a hobby legal AM transmitter and hook that up to my computer as a source, then pick an empty frequency.
 
This is a new one on me! Thanks Airegin for something new to worry about! :D

If it doesn't already have one, just make sure that it is fused.

H.H.Scott & Fisher just to name a couple, used wooden cases. Never heard of a fire hazard unless something went drastically wrong...........and I mean drastically wrong!
 
I'd be willing to bet that fires have occurred in old wooden radios. Wood certainly doesn't meet modern flammability standards for UL or other agencies. It looks great, but other than speakers, I'd never put electronics in a wood case, or if I did, there'd be a completely enclosed metal chassis in there to contain any flames. Wood also has sub-optimal shielding capability ;-)
 
Reminds me of the first time I fired up the SV811 monoblocks, in a freshly-polyurethaned cabinet.

I think the smell helped with the sound :)
 
Heck, one of the PCs at work had smoke coming out of it the other day. I'd rather a burning wooden cabinet than a burning plastic one.
 
Just to analogize here only. "Does wood framing in my house cause a fire hazard?" If your equipment isn't a fire hazard, your case won't be either.
 
A load of wood burning right behind my back keeps my mind off the amp catching on fire ...

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Truth be told, the heat generated in you device is not a problem. It would take an actual fire in the device to catch the wood on fire. The actual fire hazard would be an improperly operating circuit. If that did happen, then the wood would simply be more fuel for it, however, plastic burns as well, and has more toxic fumes to release.

Maintain the circuit and sleep soundly at night.

Shelly_D
 
Or at least get it on tape ...

One of my favorite amp fatalities is at the tail end of Alabama Shakes Hold On ... way I hear it, the bass amp went south, and the rest of that take was too good to toss. They were nice enough to put a warning on the jacket that no, it wasn't YOUR amp blowing up ... <G>
 
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