PET SAFE electric wiring

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Aug 20, 2012 · , sent to the company Oct 5, 2012 · , published by CPSC Oct 22, 2012

   The product, in the report: Invisible Fence

   On June 22, 2012 lightning hit two trees bout 200’ from the building I had converted from a barn to a recreation room and workshop. The trees were near my Invisible Fence buried a couple feet away. That fence conducted the lightning to my building. Within minutes, there was heavy smoke coming from the peak of the barn. The building was a total loss. $25,067 of the replacement value of $79,207 was covered by insurance. The depreciated value of the building was $59,120. The Fire Marshall, [REDACTED], who is a former fire chief with Eagleville and was a fire officer at UCONN did a thorough investigation. He concluded that the fire had started at the spot where the Invisible Fence was plugged into an outlet and that the Invisible Fence was the cause of the fire. I enclose a copy of the Fire Marshall’s report. A few days later, a representative from Canine Fence who sold and installed my fence, also looked at the building, the scarred trees, and so forth. Their representative acknowledged that the cause of the fire was the Invisible Fence his company had installed. [REDACTED] of Canine Fence says that Canine Fence has no responsibility for what happened. I disagree for the following reasons: 1) Nowhere in the installation manual and owner’s guide is there indication that having an Invisible Fence connected to a building puts that building in danger from lightning. I enclose a copy of the installation manual. I mentioned this to [REDACTED]. His response was that it is “common knowledge” that buried wires can conduct lightning into buildings, so I should have known. I have done some informal research, asking various acquaintances whether they were aware that buried wires could do this. Out of ten people eight of them were surprised and amazed. This is not common knowledge, although I’m sure it is obvious to people installing buried wires. 2) After my event a friend who also has an Invisible Fence told me that the men who installed the system advised him to unplug the charger when there was an electrical storm. So, the installers are aware that lightning is a danger to the building in which the charger is plugged in. If the installers were aware of this, it seems that those writing the warnings on the installation manual were aware of this as well. In any case, I was not given that bit of advice. This is not a rare occurrence. I am aware of at least one other event just like mine that happened in Columbia about a week after my building was destroyed. A quick [REDACTED] search finds many more such events, some of them captured on [REDACTED] videos. 3) There are plenty of warnings on other topics in the installation manual. The only warning about lightning, however, is that an electrical storm may damage the buried wire, so that one should check the perimeter of the fence after a storm. There in not word about fire danger to one’s building. 4) A company that sells a product has a responsibility to inform buyers of a product of dangers associated with the product. Drugs, pesticides, and almost every other product come with appropriate warnings. In the present case it is pretty clear that Canine Fence was well aware that their product involved this danger. They have a responsibility to let customers know of this danger. I should re-iterate that everyone Invisible Fence owner I have spoken to has been surprised and frightened. 5) The “common knowledge” excuse for not informing me doesn’t hold up. When you buy coffee, the cup says “contents may be hot.” Well, duh! Even if it were “common knowledge” that buried wires connected to buildings can burn them down, that should be in the literature among the other warnings. 6) I live on top of a hill, in an obviously lightning-prone location. My House and out-buildings are the highest point for hundreds of yards in every direction. I had lightning rods on the building which burned down, and I have lightning rods on my house. Canine Fence has to know that installing an Invisible Fence in this location is exceptionally dangerous. So, my opinion is: 1) Canine Fence should be required to warn past purchaser and potential future purchasers of this “common knowledge” fact that installing an Invisible Fence could conduct lightning into the building into which it is plugged and burn it down. 2) Given that Canine Fence was well aware of the problem with their dog containment device, and continued to sell their installations without any warning, some kind of fine should be imposed on the company. This situation akin to the tobacco companies covering up the dangers of smoking and to Ford ignoring the dangers of their Pinto. It is beyond belief that their installers knew about the danger and the management of the company did not. 3) Canine Fence should compensate burnt: owners who suffer fire losses due to their product. At least up to the depreciated value of the destroyed property.

   Sincerely [REDACTED]

   Model

   1CT725 transmitter

   Where

   Willington, Connecticut: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   made or sold by PET SAFE

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources