In tonight's local news paper was an artical about a home fire, resulting in quite a lot of damage. They say the likely cause was a defective foot pedal on a sewing machine, which overheated, and started a fire on the carpet. No one was home at the time so the fire really took hold before neighbors noticed smoke. I usually unplug my machine when not in use, but did go in and check to make sure I had last time I used it. Something to think about.