Cub Cadet LTX1050 Fire….<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> This is a photo of my 2 year old cub cadet. I need everyone’s help locating any other people that have had this happen to their mower. While mowing I noticed some smoke coming from the engine area and stopped to look. When I raised the cowling, the top, front of the engine was on fire. Before I could get anything to help put it out, all the plastic had caught fire and there was no putting that out. I contacted the Cub Cadet customer support and they were very nice and helpful until I heard this was NOT going to be under warranty. Seems they have never seen such a thing and said it was more than likely a bird nest under the carburetor, near the exhaust pipe. This nest must have caught fire causing a malfunction in the fuel system which then feed gas to the fire. How many birds would build a nest 8” off the ground in a piece of equipment that is used every week? It was also mentioned that I could prove otherwise, so their best guess is a new mower is less than a lawyer (great company policy). What ever happened to helping a customer in a weird circumstance? <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" />

And yet, in Toronto, Ont. they want people to use their dishwashers/dryers/washers very late at night and have implemented "Smart Meters" to determine how much you pay to use electricity with the cheapest rates being at night. The REALLY annoying thing is that a trial was/is being held and only 10,000 Toronto homes had Smart Meters installed and were subject to the 3 differing price rates -and guess who was one of two people on our street to get one? And there are just the two of us and we take care to turn off lights etc. etc. - unlike many others who are paying considerably less to operate every appliance known to man ad nauseum all day. We have also had a problem with our dishwasher/dryer/oven and there is not a chance in this lifetime that I will run the appliances at night. I checked with the appliance repairman and with the firemen I met at the grocery store and they all agreed. No way. Plastic parts melt - fires start.

No, it's not a fire hazard in the sense that the baseboard will cause it to ignite. I've got hot water heat with baseboard and had my tree in a corner (baseboard on two sides) for 40 years. Some of that time was even with C7 bulb sets that are a lot hotter than what is available today. That said, do some common sense things: 1. Keep it well watered and check the water level at least twice a day. They drink a lot, especially at first. If the water level ever drops below the bottom of the trunk for even a short time, the cut is sealed and the tree won't drink anymore. 2. Check the tree to make sure the branches are still supple. If they are stiff, time to toss it. 3. Only turn the tree on when you are nearby and awake. I don't mean you have to hover over the thing but it's ridiculous how some people leave a tree on when they go to sleep or leave the house. A few years back, a large mansion in Maryland was burned completely to the ground and all inside perished because of an electrical failure in the Christmas tree that was left on 24/7. The tree ignited at night when everyone was asleep. 4. Don't use any plug-in additions to the light string. What I mean are accessories where you remove a bulb from the string and plug the accessory into the socket. I don't know if they are still available, but were popular years ago - like bird chirppers or that play music, large ornaments with moving figures, etc.

I loved my six-burner Bluestar RCS range at first, but it has caused a lot of headaches, and then the convection fan recall pretty much ruined it for me. It's a whole different oven; the convection feature is useless now. I worked in restaurants for years, and on most residential ovens the convection feature is pretty sad because they use a weak little fan, but the Bluestar convection fan was serious and really improved cooking results. I realize the recall happened out of an abundance of caution (probably with the help of a lot of lawyers), but now the fan will only turn on when the gas is not lit. It's a part time convection fan--maybe on 20% of the time, depending on the cooking temp. If you're roasting a chicken at 500 degrees for nice crispy skin, the convection fan will turn on when the oven is up to 500, but once the fan is on it cools the oven down quickly and the gas kicks on and the fan turns off. It's a joke now. IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE CONVECTION FAN RECALL REPAIR, DON'T DO IT. JUST USE YOUR OVEN CAREFULLY. Other problems in the 5 years of owning this thing: The bottom pan fell apart because they used rivets that melt (they replaced that for free, with a stainless steel riveted pan, even though it was after warranty, that was nice). I replaced the first convection fan, under warranty, before the recall, because it was vibrating like crazy. I replaced the oven ignitor once. I currently need a new spark module for one of the burners ($100+ for the part). If you attempt to replace one of the burner ignitors, which I did, the cheap screw holding it on will break, so be ready to drill and tap a new hole and put in a better screw. The stovetop is definitely better than anything out there, but that's about the only good thing I can say. The broiler stinks. Customer service has been decent, but not great. I wouldn't buy Bluestar again, but I'm not sure what else I would buy.