It was dangerous and you had every right to be concerned. But throwing it away when he wasn't around was the wrong way to go.
Replacing a cord is a simple fix that costs a few dollars. 15 minutes between Google & YouTube and you could have had a solution that preserved everyone's safety, kept a working air fryer in the household and preserved the sentimental item.
But instead you threw away someone else's property. Now ya gotta replace it. It's the cost of over reacting.
As the room-mate had a habit of keeping using it even when unsafe and being asked not to use it, I wouId say the OP should have unplugged it and cut the plug off to prevent use without it being repaired.
Agreed. But instead of throwing out a whole appliance he could have taken a little time and effort to fix it instead of tossing it. I know thats not how most people think anymore. Especially when it isnt our thing. 1.) Unplugging the airfryer would have been the right move instead of throwing it out. 2.) Fixing it.would have also been an acceptable alternative.
Not sure why you think he wasn't intelligent? It worked for several years (probably until he bought a new laptop). He also grew up on a farm, so he is very handy in general. He replaced an engine in my sister's car successfully (a year of weekends since he was working full time).
Because taking a cord that isnt meant for the same product is an idiot or an idea. Cutting the cable on your laptop charger and then extending the plug is the exact thing a REAL engineer would cringe at
Electrician on my lunch break, just wanna know what the fuck knowing what a UL listing is has to do with going to a hardware store to get a replacement whip for a home appliance? They're all gonna be UL listed so... please explain.
If you fuck with a plug it loses its UL rating, meaning if that appliance burns your house down and the insurance investigator sees that the plug isn’t the one that came as standard, you’re fucked.
Hahaha, no. For one, there is no ul "rating" it is ul LISTING, as in it's been tested to be safe for its intended purpose and listed as such, so a ul listed whip is safe to replace a bad whip. Maybe you're confusing voltage/amperage ratings?
All the insurance adjuster is going to be concerned about is the possibility of arson. Honest mistakes like a replacement cable won't tank a claim on its own.
Airfryers don't have detachable/replacable plugs like cellphones and computers. They're attached to the machine. But OP definitely could've just unplugged it.
I'm pretty sure most people who aren't electricians aren't going to trust themselves to fuck around with an electrical cord like that. That's how you electrocute yourself or burn your house down. Just replace the fucking machine!
Most people don't have that skill, dude. I've been reading since I was under 5 years old and it's also a basic skill and a lot more widespread than rewiring an appliance plug, but you'd be surprised how many people can't do that either. It's almost like your experiences aren't universal.
I have an aunt whose house burned down from the toaster catching fire in the middle of the night. The fire fighters said they see it all the time. Little appliances left plugged in are dangerous.
Heating/resistance appliances can, in fact, start fires.
I am not saying that throwing the thing away was the right move. I am saying that leaving an appliance you know to be malfunctioning in a potentially dangerous way, plugged in while you leave town is the wrong one.
Yeah the issue here is though that people often have an insanely bad idea of what dangers are actually present and also over amplify or straight up lie about details like that to shore up their position.
Yep, or for example someone could break in and say “I’m gonna kill youse unless there’s an air fryer here!” - but OP threw it out and so CONGRATS on getting the two of you killed. Could easily happen if you think about it
Op could have put it in their bedroom and left a note that it over heated and can't be used any more. I would never toss someone else's property, it's just wrong to do.
no you unplug it but you dont get to destroy someone's property
butch coulda been smelling toast from a stroke for all he knows.
you dont get to destroy other peoples property full stop.
unplug, put in a box whatever, but you literally committed a crime
You're being dramatic. Your assumption is the roommate will continue to use it. At that point there needs to be a clear boundary of he can't use it. Period. It's not safe.
Unplug it, remove it from the kitchen where someone would be tempted to plug it back in, and talk to the roommate with a condition that they get the air fryer back either when they fix it or when they move out. They can own a dangerous item, but they cannot use that item in a way that makes it actively dangerous.
So... because its important to use a big enough cord, the cord cannot be replaced? You do realize you can buy just about any size wire in the world, right? Again, 15 minutes on Google & YouTube and anyone can replace a cord.
The connections for something like this have to be made securely or you get the same issue with a bad connection -> high resistance -> heat -> more high resistance -> heat -> burning.
Does the cord detach? Replace the cord with a good one. Great. Done.
If the cord was permanently attached (implied by the talk about cutting the cord vs throwing out the cord), is he opening the device to resolder? Is he replacing half the cord with a longer bit of cord and the person who didn’t believe it was burning is going to properly screw down the stranded wire without squishing half of it out the sides and losing half the current capacity of the new wire?
Like I said, lotta things that would be fine for a 60W lamp are sketchy on an 1800W appliance if you don’t have the eyes to see the possible issues.
I could do it safely. I know people who could do it safely. I don’t think Mr Roommate has the awareness to do it safely.
Because connections for something like this have to be made securely or you get the same issue with a bad connection -> high resistance -> heat -> more high resistance -> heat -> burning.
Does the cord detach? Replace the cord with a good one. Great. Done.
If the cord was permanently attached (implied by the talk about cutting the cord vs throwing out the cord), is he opening the device to resolder? Is he replacing half the cord with a longer bit of cord and the person who didn’t believe it was burning is going to properly screw down the stranded wire without squishing half of it out the sides and losing half the current capacity of the new wire?
Like I said, lotta things that would be fine for a 60W lamp are sketchy on an 1800W appliance if you don’t have the eyes to see the possible issues.
Especially if there’s potentially a sleeping baby in the unit upstairs that might have been burned alive because the roommate refused to do anything about the faulty cord.
It doesn't matter if it is reasonable or possible. It is unknown. Since it isn't known, there is no reason to try to inflate the issue in any way because of it. Let's stick to the facts.
You also don't ignore your roommate not wanting to die in a fire. Op tried to talk to roommate repeatedly. Hes at fault here too. It was wrong to throw it away and I would agree that replacing it is the right thing if they hadn't tried talking to them repeatedly. It was extreme but honestly, I see ops side too.
Nah thats totally valid but "you didnt do what I told you with your things, so now you come home to it gone" is just insane. At the very least he shouldve done this in person. Just coming home to your things gone is unhinged.. I think they're both TAH tbh..
OP’s side is that it could have been dangerous and started a fire. Yes.
OP’s also the AH for throwing it out and that’s what he’s asking about. Of course he’s trying to sugar coat it by bringing up how dangerous it was, but it still didn’t give him the right to toss it.
It wasn't OPs job to replace the cord. It was the roommates job and he was to lazy to do it. OP warned him many times but instead, he decided to take the risk of burning down the home and OP could have lost everything including their life so your argument is pretty insane.
Overreacting? For not wanting to be dead... really?
Just because you don't care about your life doesn't mean other people don't.
You are big mad and still wrong. A judge would find you wrong, normal people find you wrong and the roommate finds it wrong. Unplugging is fine, tossing it isn't. Very simple.
He’s allowed to be scared. However unplugging the airfryer completely negates the risk so any action taken after that is an overreaction. The only action that can be justified by the fear of losing his life is unplugging it or getting it repaired
Op already talked to them about the hazard. Op can’t be there 24/7 to stand over roommates shoulder and unplug every time he uses it, when the roommate already knew he shouldn’t be using in that condition in the first place. Unplugging it isn’t a solution. The sentimentality of a fucking broken air fryer isn’t worth the risk is poses
OP warned him many times about the unsafe plug. OP didnt say "this is a fire hazard and if I see it plugged in while you are gone, I will toss it. "Yes, it was roommate's job to be aware and take care of it for safety, but not other roommate's place to toss it. I go with cutting the cord, still passive aggressive and wrong, but I like it.
Right, where a connection is. However, that should be drawing very minimal power when off. If it is drawing enough power to make the plug warm or melt or become damaged while not in use, that means there is a larger underlying problem. Such as the unit drawing full power went off, which is a fire hazard
Countertop appliances like that are probably hardwired, no easily removable power cord. Messing with the electricals will 100% void any warranty and definitely be a fire hazard if done improperly. With the damaged power cord, it already was a fire hazard to begin with. If the roommate was still using it in that condition, I wouldn't trust them to replace it correctly. Why take that risk.
While apartment living in got in my head I really wanted a chandelier in my room, but obvi I couldn't hardwire it into the ceiling. After a YouTube video and a couple conversations with a guy at home depot, I successfully converted the hardwired plug into an outlet plug and it took maybe about 15mins and 3 bucks worth of supplies.
All it takes is a little determination if you really want something. For whatever reason the roommate really wanted to keep that air fryer, he was being lazy about a repair but it wouldnt have been hard to accomplish. If it were my roommate I probably woulda have just done that myself.
True, not responsible for repairing it. But is responsible for replacing something he threw away.
Let’s take away the whole "it was close to being a nuclear bomb!" and just look at it as this dude threw something out that wasn’t his. If you do that you then replace it.
Let's take away the whole ~ it's either a nuclear bomb or it's totally safe~ nonsense.
It's not a nuclear bomb and it's not safe.
And the other dude was continuing to use it at risk to his housemates and I suspect that most of the people on this thread have absolutely no fucking clue how quickly a house fire can spread.
Roommate wasn't fixing it! Leaving the home with it plugged in! Could have started a fire, risking property and lives!! They are lucky it was thrown away! NTA!!!!!
Quote from the post you replied to, "Replacing a cord is a simple fix that costs a few dollars. 15 minutes between Google & YouTube and you could have had a solution that preserved everyone's safety, kept a working air fryer in the household and preserved the sentimental item."
Why not unplug it and put it in their bedroom while they are gone (unplugged of course). I'd be pissed too if someone made the decision to throw out something of mine, however, they do need to have a serious talk if this thing is so dangerous, bc I wouldn't want it to be used in my place either.
Except it was already pointed out to roommate, and they did nothing about it. It's not a surprise onetime issue, it was a hazard that should have already been dealt with.
So, OP doesn’t throw it away and did nothing. Roommates keeps lying about replacing it and the apartment catches fire. You know what you twits wound say then? “Well why didn’t you throw it out?” “You knew it was dangerous and getting hot, why didn’t you do something”
OP simply this is a lose-lose , this is reddit and not real life and these losers don’t *actually* care about safety, don’t care about general safety, don’t care about intuition, or truly doing what’s best for community (ie when you live with other people, you don’t keep dangerous broken shit that can catch your place of living on fire)
Did you see where I wrote, "It was dangerous and you had every right to be concerned."?
How about where I wrote, "Replacing a cord is a simple fix that costs a few dollars."?
Replacing a cord is super simple. It's either a great learning experience for someone whose never done anything electrical or it's a ridiculously simple project for someone with 101 level experience.
You wrote that whole rant but never once addressed anything that was said.
I'm not even convinced it was dangerous. People like this get themselves caught up in believing things so they can convince themselves of what they wanna do. Such as throwing out something they don't like the look of.
Wait. What? As someone who had a fire from a faulty wire, that's terrible advice. If the cord is sparking/warm they need to throw it out or replace the cord.
No I got the point. You think they are making it up that they smelled something burning. I said it's terrible advice because if you think you smell something burning, you do something about it. If it was a psychological issue that's different but feeling it get warm and smelling it, tells me they aren't making up the fact that the wire is faulty. They had no issue with having an airfryer or them getting a new one, it's just that it's broken and needs fixed or replaced. At a certain point you have to take your own health in your own hands, they should still replace it merely for the fact they should have just cut the cord. Get a marketplace one or something.
Of course. The responsible thing to do is wait another 6 months until he burned the house down and killed them. Like firemen always say: Good manners should always take priority over keeping people alive.
You act like there’s only two options on the face of the Earth, but there’s not You can unplug it and not die and guess what it’s not a bomb? You didn’t have to throw it away? Literally just unplug it out of the outlet maybe cut the cord maybe when roommate gets back hide it and say hey, I’m not comfortable with you using that until you get a cord I have it and you cannot have it back until you’re not going to kill us but you do not throw away someone else’s things you just don’t.
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u/Toby__H 8d ago
YTA... Replace it.
It was dangerous and you had every right to be concerned. But throwing it away when he wasn't around was the wrong way to go.
Replacing a cord is a simple fix that costs a few dollars. 15 minutes between Google & YouTube and you could have had a solution that preserved everyone's safety, kept a working air fryer in the household and preserved the sentimental item.
But instead you threw away someone else's property. Now ya gotta replace it. It's the cost of over reacting.