Short circuits or wrong wiring?

Short circuits or wrong wiring?

From Suara Karya

An increasing number of buildings have caught fire in the city lately, which are widely believed to have been caused by short circuits.

In the 1970s, I saw a film, Towering Inferno, depicting a big fire that consumes a high-rise building due to the wrong use of cables.

The installation of cables of inappropriate diameters causes overloading of electricity and thus the conflagration. The building contractor, therefore, is to blame in the movie.

In Indonesia, in my view, the blame goes to two parties. First, the so-called quality control by building contractors leads to poor quality wiring, in connection with the culture of corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Second, consumers commit electricity theft by changing fuses. For instance, state electricity company PLN has installed 10- ampere fuses and consumers use 20-ampere fuses instead. In the long run, the power consumed will go beyond the limits of cable tolerance and fires are inevitable.

While a giant water tank is exploded to extinguish the fire in the film, in Indonesia a bill is being worked out to deal with and surmount such huge blazes.

H. IMAM NAWAWI Serang, Banten