I have had a Dish Network dish since July of 08. It was an all-new installation. Because I live in an apartment, they had to use a flat cable wire to run into my apartment from the balcony. The wire goes around the door and is flat so the door will still close.
Last night I noticed my satellite reception was out but didn't think much of it until it was still down this morning. I opened the sliding glass door to see if the dish was obstructed. I looked down at the flat wire and it was smoking. Opening the door must have provided the needed oxygen because it burst into a small flame as I was bending to investigate the smoke. I smacked it with my hand to put it out and it started right back up. I blew it out again and it restarted. I quickly unscrewed the flat wire from the black (regular) cable wires and the plastic insulation around the flat wire just melted and twisted away.
If I had gone to work without checking this, it may have burned down this whole apartment building after I left! There must be 30 families in my building. It seems that closing the door on the wire (as you're supposed to be able to do) caused the wire "insulation" to be damaged causing the wire to come into direct contact with my metal door frame.
I called Dish Network and they said they would send someone out tomorrow to replace the wiring. I knew this was not acceptable because the wiring is less than one year old. The woman on the phone had no more to say, so I chatted online with a Dish Network representative. I told her what happened and asked if others have had this. She said that many have. I asked her to clarify that many customers have had actual fires from their flat cables and she said yes. How can they continue to install equipment they know is dangerous?!
The fire marshall is coming this afternoon to check the situation. I will update this thread if he has any useful information.
BEWARE OF THE FLAT CABLE WIRES -- THEY ARE A FIRE HAZARD!!!
Has anyone else on here had this issue?
Last night I noticed my satellite reception was out but didn't think much of it until it was still down this morning. I opened the sliding glass door to see if the dish was obstructed. I looked down at the flat wire and it was smoking. Opening the door must have provided the needed oxygen because it burst into a small flame as I was bending to investigate the smoke. I smacked it with my hand to put it out and it started right back up. I blew it out again and it restarted. I quickly unscrewed the flat wire from the black (regular) cable wires and the plastic insulation around the flat wire just melted and twisted away.
If I had gone to work without checking this, it may have burned down this whole apartment building after I left! There must be 30 families in my building. It seems that closing the door on the wire (as you're supposed to be able to do) caused the wire "insulation" to be damaged causing the wire to come into direct contact with my metal door frame.
I called Dish Network and they said they would send someone out tomorrow to replace the wiring. I knew this was not acceptable because the wiring is less than one year old. The woman on the phone had no more to say, so I chatted online with a Dish Network representative. I told her what happened and asked if others have had this. She said that many have. I asked her to clarify that many customers have had actual fires from their flat cables and she said yes. How can they continue to install equipment they know is dangerous?!
The fire marshall is coming this afternoon to check the situation. I will update this thread if he has any useful information.
BEWARE OF THE FLAT CABLE WIRES -- THEY ARE A FIRE HAZARD!!!
Has anyone else on here had this issue?