Nickd Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Nasty smell of burning plastic/insulation pervaded our house last night. Traced it finally to a plug & socket busy welding themselves together, overheating. There are a number items plugged into an extension from this socket and it's been this way for 3 months or so, no apparent problem till now. I am wondering, given that the trip didn't react and that the cable leading to the socket wasn't hot, is this just a case of too many items into one socket - would it be okay to replace the burnt-out socket with two sockets and spread the load? Or have I too much load on this one wire? Connected are the following: 3 tabler lamps & 1kw oil heater. Can anyone give me a bit of guidance here?Thanks,Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Nick, you should not be that close to the rating that a fuse or trip will blow. However a simple poor high restistance connection wil cause localised overheating and could start a fire. One of the dangers of electrics, you need to replace the socket for certain. Some sockets in France are poorly made, sometimes its just down to the screw retaining the wire.Replacing the socket with a double may be ok but it depends how many other sockets there are on the same circuit, French regs are quite explicit about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Best advice, call an electrician!Failing that, the multigang and socket should be OK at this current, but obviously weren't. Due, most probably to an old/dirty socket causing increased resistance. Resistance = heat in a circuit such as this.Unplug it (obviuously) and don't use multigangs again.....PS. You wouldn't expect a trip to go - after all, they are designed to go once the current reaches its pre-set maximum. You house would have burned down long before that happened!PPS. I have just bought a thermal imaging camera. Superb for detecting faults like this before they become serious.PPPS. Try registering as a thermographer. Entertainment in itself...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickd Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Thanks for your swift responses, confirming what I thought I ought to do. Yes, I'm getting an electrician in after Christmas to look at this & a few other things - check how many outlets we have on this & other circuits. I think you might be right about it being a dusty old socket - it certain is old and needs replacing for definite as it's burnt badly! Meantime I shall go for two sockets & monitor closely. Thermal imaging camera sounds a great idea, but a bit pricey I imagine..All best, Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 About 10K, but it will repay in no time, so the salesman told me....Where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickd Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Some way south of you in the Creuse, deep in the Limousin with a rambling old farmhouse that could do with 10k spending on so many things.. perhaps I should ask Santa for one of those fancy imaging jobs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Nick we are currently using thermal imaging to show dampness in building fabric, another string to your bow maybe? With fixed wire testing getting mega pricey T.I. is becoming more popular over here also for interims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 [quote user="BIG MAC"]Nick we are currently using thermal imaging to show dampness in building fabric, another string to your bow maybe? With fixed wire testing getting mega pricey T.I. is becoming more popular over here also for interims[/quote]Yes indeed. I am actually waiting for a place on an English-language course on the whole gamut of uses for TI. Should be fun (not as much fun as doing it in French, however!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 [quote user="Nick Trollope"]Best advice, call an electrician![/quote]Nick, can I add a decent one.In the house that we have bought work seems to have been done by a 'professional', certainly not by the POs.Sockets including an earth have been installed wired in to the existing system that does not have an earth!The board is not compliant with the regs - 140m2 property with just 11 trips, wiring incorrectly run in some of the gaines etc. Circuits that should be separate run off of others etc etc.And for those keen to wire the UK way I think the French system is far better - including the requirement to be able to rewire without hacking off plaster etc.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickd Posted December 26, 2008 Author Share Posted December 26, 2008 Just to round this one off: burnt out socket replaced with two - heater on its own socket, three lights left on the other and all's well. Still not entirely sure why this happened, but clearly spreading the load onto a couple of sockets is a good thing. Anyway I shall now go round the house and inspect all the sockets for peace of mind.Happy New Year to all,Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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