weird happening in my home can you help???

Hi Guys
I have problem that’s freaking me out
On the 28th May my wife called me at work saying that their was a smell of burning plastic in our front bedroom
My mother in-law lives in this room she is bedridden and requires 24hour care so it was a cause for concern
Suspecting a wiring problem I told her to plug everything out and see if it goes away and to check the trips in the fuse box
This had no affect the smell remained
I told her to keep an eye on it and I would look at it when I got home
When I got home I checked everything out but did not find a problem besides the smell had gone leading me to believe that it Was coming from outside so the hole thing was forgotten about until yesterday

Yesterday when I got home my wife decided to clean the windows when she got to the window in my mother in-laws room And lifted the blind (it is always kept half down) she discovered a large burn on the crossbar between the top and bottom Panes of glass

I am completely perplexed by this it is right in the middle of the bar the PVC is so badly burnt it is carbonized
The rubber gasket between the glass and the frame is untouched as is the blind
Their were 3 people in the room when the burning smell appeared so nobody was holding a heat source against it
You could not do this with a lighter or a cigarette
it is not melted it looks like it was shot with a powerful laser or something

Their are no mirrors, lenses or anything else that could focus or reflect light onto this spot besides the blind was covering it

I am really bothered by this as we had a house fire 25 years ago in which my 3 year old brother died and I almost bought it trying to rescue him
I have 4 kids in this house I am up the wall worrying if a fire is going to start
So let me tell you what I have ruled out
1) Their are no heat sources of any kind in this room
2) Their are no chemicals
3) Nobody could have done it from outside
4) The room is never empty so nobody came in and did it
besides their were 3 people in the room when the burning smell appeared
5) It is not a cigarette burn as it is on the underside of the window bar and a cigarette would not have caused that much damage
6) Not a lighting strike

So if anybody can explain or suggest what is happening here I would be grateful

kind regards
moonpie

wow, im gonna guess that somehow the sunlight was concentrated, throught the glass, at the angle the sun was shining through it.

can you take a picture?

What direction does the window face, and what exact time of day did this occure?

-E-

That is scary. What about focus sources outside? Any metal pan or glass that could have focused the sun onto that spot of the window?

Make sure you have "heat" and "smoke" detectors at key points in your home, and that your children have an escape mechanism near their rooms, and a plan, in case you cannot get to them. Sometimes exits are blocked!

It may be a good idea to run a fire drill with the family.

There are some very strong lasers that can be made. You can't buy them, but you can make them from youtube plans. Do you have any young teens across the street from you facing that window?

Another suggestion, buy one of those aquarium thermometer stickers and put on that window. This way you can see if it is something heating that spot.

Is the burn on the inside or outside of the window? If its on the outside then maybe an intense refraction of light could cause it. If you have neighbors nearby check to see if anyone has hung a prism or double-pane windows that might direct the sun's rays at your window.

Very weird and scary! Good luck.

Phew...scary situation, for sure.

You've already ruled out my best guess, but I'd check again for any deformities/abnormalities in the window glass; a tiny chip, or a very small bubble in the glass could possibly have this effect if the sun were to hit the area just right.

I remember reading recently about a fire that was started by sunlight filtered through a fishbowl.

Other than that I have not a clue.

reply to post by MR BOB

have uploaded some photos as soon as i can figure out how to put them in the post i will do so

Originally posted by Hazelnut
Is the burn on the inside or outside of the window? If its on the outside then maybe an intense refraction of light could cause it. If you have neighbors nearby check to see if anyone has hung a prism or double-pane windows that might direct the sun's rays at your window.

Very weird and scary! Good luck.

its on the inside photos coming soon

reply to post by MR BOB


yeah thats the only scenario I can think of. Have the kids figured out you can make a death-beam-for-ants with a magnifying glass?

Originally posted by moonpie
reply to post by MR BOB

 

have uploaded some photos as soon as i can figure out how to put them in the post i will do so

Hi moonpie!

If you will go to the ATS MEDIAL PORTAL, you can upload your photos to your account there. Just log in with your regular ATS username/password.

Go to the upper right side, click on MY ACCOUNT, MY PICTURES and upload there!

After you have uploaded the photos, copy the [atsimg ] tag to your post!

If you need any more help with this, please let me or another staff member know!


[edit on 6/5/2009 by greeneyedleo]

I think everyone on the thread here is on the right track. When investigating the source, I would make sure to check the ground and the neighbors yards and roofs. Look for anything new. This could be an odd quirk of the layout of the sun and something reflective and might acutally only occur during certain times of day during a narrow window of the year.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


thanks greeneyedleo

here is a photo taken with my phone
my good camera is flat just now so i will take a better photo later and post it

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/686bb8f862dc.jpg[/atsimg]
hmm buggered it up will try again

[edit on 5-6-2009 by moonpie]

[Mod Edit to fix link]

[edit on 6/5/2009 by yeahright]

[edit on 5-6-2009 by moonpie]

reply to post by MysterE


the window faces east the burning smell appeared around midday
so the sun would have been two high
their is nothing i can find that would reflect sunlight in
the reflection would have to come from very low down
the mark looks like it was done with a white hot rod about 8mm in dia
the burn is about 2mm deep on one end and 4-5mm at the glass end

Do you feel any heat coming from it? Not the room , directly from the burnt PVC?

Do you know if there is any kind of other metal in contact with it?

Is the source of the smell coming directly from it?

How old is the bar?


If you cannot feel the smell on it , it is most likely that the smell came from somewhere else , burnt stuff can impregnate the house for days if you do not take it away somewhere else.

Cannot make much of the picture , but it seems I can see some rust on it. It could be that your PVC is actually iron and got oxided , but that is only if the bar is very very old.



I would go looking around the house to see if I could find any remaining smell just to be sure it did not come from the house.

reply to post by Roufas


the windows are eight years old
what looks like rust is a smoke stain their is no metal in the plastic frame
at that point only the screws at the joints
no heat coming from it its at room temp (i checked)
it does still smell slightly and my wife confirmed that it is the same smell

i think it is now safe to assume that it was caused by some million to one chance reflection from somthing
i have installed alarms in all the rooms over the windows so i am bit more relaxed about it
it just goes to show you can never be two carefull

It looks to me like it is a magnification of the sun. I have expierence in this, because as a kid I used to burn leaves with magnifying glasses. One time I proped the magnifying glass up aiming at a piece of wood and came back in an hour-ish. When I came back the burn had traveled with the setting of the sun.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ea1e150851d4.jpg[/atsimg]

Almost identicle to the above pic.



From the picture it appears that is located inside? If so there may be something in the room that the sun is hitting just right. I would suggest you locate the source of magnification asap.

-E-

[edit on 5-6-2009 by MysterE]

reply to post by MysterE


the only thing in the room that could have done this is a parabolic makeup mirror
its located in an ensuite bathroom about 10 feet away at the other end of the room on a shelf
if i look into the mirrow i can see the part of the window that is damaged
i played around with a laser pointer to see if i could reflect it onto the spot AND IT DID ! so mystere i think you have solved it !!
well done
THANK YOU !

reply to post by moonpie


WOW, good catch. One of those wierd things that makes you wonder..lol Good thing a fire didn't happen, I imagine it would have been ruled as arson or unknown.