Unpleasant things can happen (Photo: ShutterStock)
The association that comes to mind when you think of an air conditioner is a cool and pleasant breeze that caresses the face. And what do you think, about a burst of fire that burns your body and leaves you with third-degree burns and scars that no surgery will remove?
Summer is here, and the increase in the use of air conditioners is at its peak. The joy of the device's existence is cooled by the data of the fire and rescue services, on the extent of fires that break out from the failure of the air conditioners. Their statistical processing, conducted by Maor Shabtai, head of the Central District Fire and Rescue Investigations, and one of the leading fire investigators in Israel, shows that 2021 fires broke out in 61, and 2022 in 63. It also turns out that most of them caught fire between May and September. Accordingly, the small number of 5 fires that occurred in 2023 does not necessarily bode well, and the number is expected to reach about 60 this year as well.
Also electronic card failure. Adv. Assaf Warsaw (Photo: Shahar Kalev)
Adv. Assaf Warsaw, co-chairman of the Bar Association's Torts Forum, an expert in insurance law, notes that 50% of air conditioner fires occur due to unprofessional installations and improper tightening of the electrical cables in the air conditioner. This figure was flooded at the beginning of July 2022 during a discussion in the Standards Committee of the Standards Institution of Israel, which dealt with the issue of the unique Israeli standard for preventing fires in air conditioners. About a month later, a bill passed its first reading defining the manner of supervision of those engaged in the profession of installing air conditioners, as well as the violations for which financial sanctions will be imposed, including in relation to those who work without the required license.
According to the law, it is proposed to set the conditions for granting a licensed license for refrigeration and air conditioning systems, which will be renewed every five years, subject to training, in order to maintain the fitness of the dealers. The license applicant will have to meet the training requirements, which will include a combination of designated theoretical and practical studies and exams. The training that will be determined will be in accordance with the different types of licenses and taking into account previous experience and training. Its duration will range from 34 hours for those with previous training, to 288 hours for those who will work in the field of air conditioning installation for the first time.
According to Adv. Warsaw, in cases where the air conditioner itself fails and not a faulty installation, it is quite possible that the cause of the fire is a failure of the electronic card. For example, about six months ago, one of the largest air conditioner companies in Israel was ordered to compensate spouses in the amount of half a million shekels, after it was claimed that the evaporator's control card caused a fire that led to the ignition of the evaporator cover.
- Home & Design
- Order and cleanliness
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- air conditioner
