Not a blue light special
Two years ago, we purchased three blue nightlights from a commonly known big box store. I liked the subtle blue color as it was easy on the eyes yet provided ample light to navigate those middle-of-the-night bathroom calls. They were manufactured in China, but blatantly displayed the all-important UL label, so we expected them to meet strict US standards. We plugged the three nightlights into 120v outlets throughout our motorcoach. Each would turn on at dusk and off at daylight.
Our lucky Sunday.
One Sunday morning last November, while enjoying our second cup of coffee before cooking breakfast, the nightlight pictured below sparked and erupted with six to eight inches of flame from its plastic base. I exclaimed, “Fire!” and my quick-thinking spouse grabbed a kitchen towel and yanked it from the wall outlet adjacent to the kitchen counter. No damage, but it scared the hell out of us! After that, we needn’t another cup of coffee and unplugged the remaining two.
Could we have been trapped?
There are plenty of caustic materials within travel trailers, fifth wheel and motorhomes that could readily produce a deadly atmosphere. What if these materials accelerated the flame or we died from the toxic cloud in our sleep? On the bright side, apparently it was our lucky day.
Cheap and defective from offshore
I’ve been listening to my spouse complain for years over what he deems as “cheap Chinese junk,” specifically poor quality electronic products that do not live up to their claims. When we purchase products that are labeled according to a US testing standard, we think we’ve been wise consumers. We expect them to work, not be defective. Over the past decade, we’ve experienced a serious decline in offshore manufactured product’s reliability and service. My spouse lived and worked on-and-off for fourteen years in Hong Kong and mainland China managing electronic manufacturing for the good Ol’ USA market. He declares to this day that maintaining the standards and not cutting corners for profit by Chinese companies was a constant battle. Now we attempt to only purchase goods made in the western world and Europe, where safety standards are not taken lightly!
Have you experienced a defective failure that could have ended catastrophically?
Kate Doherty has been writing for more than 30 years in technical and general media. In her previous business, she and her spouse dealt with special projects within the military/government sector. Recently she published Masquerade: A Logan Scott Novel under the pen name Bryan Alexander, a thriller now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple iBooks. It’s a page-turner!