Expert warns: "Ethanol stoves are dangerous"

Created: 12/20/2022, 08:00

By: Sebastian Tauchnitz

Errors in the operation of an ethanol stove caused an apartment fire in Penzberg.

300,000 euros in damage was caused and several people were injured.

© Photo: Penzberg fire brigade

The high gas prices are currently causing many to look for alternative heating options.

But that also harbors many fire hazards, as District Fire Councilor Rüdiger Sobotta explains.

District

– 300,000 euros in damage occurred on Friday night in an apartment fire in Penzberg.

And it could easily have been much more affected, as District Fire Councilor Rüdiger Sobotta clarified yesterday in an interview with the local newspaper: "The Penzberg fire brigade has delivered an extremely strong performance.

It could have been a major fire.”

Improper handling of an ethanol stove by one of the tenants was named as the cause of the fire on Friday.

Sobotta is less surprised: "From our point of view, ethanol is unsuitable for heating because the substance is extremely flammable." In contrast to heating oil, which is comparatively difficult to ignite, a small spark is enough with ethanol.

In the end you save little or nothing with alternatives

"I'm definitely not giving any tips as to which alternatives to normal heaters are the best," says Sobotta.

Nevertheless, before you look around for alternatives such as tea light or ethanol heaters, you should ask yourself what the benefits are, how safe the alternative is: "Not everything you read on the Internet is true."

In general, everything that is operated with an open fire is dangerous.

You should also ask yourself whether you end up paying more.

"The gas price is certainly twice as high as it was a year ago," said the district fire council.

But the purchase of an ethanol stove or fan heater also costs money, not to mention the necessary operating resources.

It's quite possible that you'll end up paying more with the supposedly cost-saving alternative, says Sobotta in an interview with the local newspaper.

Rüdiger Sobotta, District Fire Councilor.

© ARCHIVE

Even normal wood-burning stoves and fireplaces pose a fire hazard.

Therefore, many people are currently getting a fire extinguisher to be on the safe side – just in case.

Sobotta is not exactly enthusiastic about this either: "The best fire extinguisher is of little use if you can't use it properly."

Fire brigades, but also various clubs and associations would offer courses in which the use of fire extinguishers can be practiced.

In general, however, it also applies: You don't have to play the hero when there's a fire, but rather get yourself and everyone else in the house to safety and leave the extinguishing work to the professionals from the volunteer fire brigade.

Fire extinguishing sprays surprised the experts in the test

If so, you should be on the lookout for the new fire extinguishing sprays that are commercially available.

They are significantly easier to use.

“We firefighters were also very skeptical at first.

But tests have shown that they work pretty well,” Sobotta continues.

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There have been more and more house and apartment fires nationwide in recent months because people were looking for questionable alternatives to expensive natural gas and heating oil.

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