Balloon just fried my TV

[mtb1bkr]

My daughter was walking by the TV while holding onto one of those foil type balloons which she received for her birthday. The ballon touched the screen and we heard a static discharge. Then the tv stopped responding to the video input ports. The screen went to static, but you can still hear the sound from whatever is on, happened to be the Wii. At first I thought it was the Wii that went out, so I switched to the DVD player, and it does the same. This TV is 10 years old, it's a standard tube TV.

 

[jdh]

Check Goodwill. They have old tube set piled to the ceilings around here. They go CHEAP.

 

[mtb1bkr]

There's not many goodwills around here, lots of thrift stores though, might check them tomorrow.

 

[RonJ]

Now you have a good excuse to buy a digital tv. They're getting fairly reasonable in price now.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Never heard of a Mylar balloon doing that to a TV before. Odds are, if it did, then the TV probably had something else wrong with it.

The MCX should have LCD TVs available year round for a cost equal to or better than most big vendors. That's where we got ours.

See if the one nearest you offers take home layaway. They do here, at least on guns, not sure on TVs. E-3 and above, you pay a percentage down and then a percentage each month, interest free, and take home your purchase the day you pay the deposit.

 

[David LaPell]

The title of this post reminds me of the old Married with Children episode where Al Bundy was trying to convince the rest of the family of the aliens. The catch line was
"Moon men stole my socks!"

 

[diamonback68]

Have you checked the back of the set? Many of the old tube type TVs had a reset button (usually red) in the back

 

[mtb1bkr]

Gator, probably going to the MCX tomorrow for some other stuff, so I'll likely pick up a new TV while I'm there. We don't watch much TV here, so we won't suffer too bad, but we do like to watch a movie with the kids on Friday and Saturday nights if we have a good one handy.

Dick, no reset switches on this set. It's around 11 years old, so not really old, but I guess it would be considered ancient by most young folks standards.

Are there any US made TVs these days?

Bill

 

[Time2Hunt]

Gator, probably going to the MCX tomorrow for some other stuff, so I'll likely pick up a new TV while I'm there. We don't watch much TV here, so we won't suffer too bad, but we do like to watch a movie with the kids on Friday and Saturday nights if we have a good one handy.

Dick, no reset switches on this set. It's around 11 years old, so not really old, but I guess it would be considered ancient by most young folks standards.

Are there any US made TVs these days?

Bill

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to upgrade...prices really are pretty reasonable now. USA made TV... I was going to be a smart you know what and say what's that but thought i'd check for you.

Television Products and/or Services Made in USA

Kinda assumed but yeah that is a little sad. Great site i found tho, going to have to start looking on there more often!

 

[Rule3]

You could report to your insurance a s a"lightning strike"

10 year old tube set, you might owe them money.

 

[dougb1946]

Once upon a time a few years back, a mylar balloon took out the Mall of America. Shorted out the electric. Probably should be required to get a permit to buy one, as they are definitely weapons of mass destruction.

 

[m1gunner]

My local Salvation Army had lots of TVs the other day for $5 each.

 

[sipowicz]

How's the balloon?

 

[Kanewpadle]

Sorry to hear that buddy.

Good thing it wasn't your tin foil hat!

 

[LVSteve]

Did you cycle the power on the TV ALL the way down by unplugging it? You might find that something in the TV went into protect mode and will only reset when the AC is removed.

 

[mtb1bkr]

I'm going to uplug the old dinosaur for the night and see if she works in the morning. Maybe I can find a TV at the thrift shop which has picture but no sound, they could compliment each other!!

 

[rilkil23]

Sure it wasn't your Mylar underwear?

 

[Rugskipper]

You might also make sure that your set is properly grounded. Those little 3 prong to 2 prong adapters have been responsible for a lot of mishaps.

 

[jkc]

Oh... This is not another cooking thread, thankfully, as I didn't care to hear any cannibalistic recipe for transgendered persons, as the "balloon fried TV" headline had brought to mind. I'm unfamiliar with any so-called "balloon frying" culinary technique, and don't even care to know how it might be applied to transvestites (or any one else, for that matter...). I'm alarmed to see that no other respondents to the OP expressed any similar concerns, and wonder whether I've completely misread the OP's question. Any help here???

 

[snw19_357]

Happy Birthday to your daughter!

Semper Fi