Hi

I rewired part of this house last year including 8 double sockets upstairs on one ring and 6 double sockets downstairs in the livingroom on another ring (all with brand new 2.5mm twin and earth and new sockets)

Now I am still in the process of finishing the Kitchen (concrete floor) and have been using various extension cables from the livingroom into the kitchen, power for kettle, microwave and fridge.

over the last few months I have rendered a couple of the sockets dud (will no longer accept a plug) as they have heated up and even melted a bit giving off that fishy smell through using the extentions in to the kitchen.

I also have a medium sized oil filled radiator running on a short 1m extension cable so it clears the dining table and is more central in the room and even this has begun overheating at the plug and causing that smell.

What I need to know is, is this purely down to extension cables or could this be poor quality sockets or wiring?

Ta

Bawser

Check your connections at the back of the socket and look for heat damage

Hi Stephen

There is defo heat damage to at least 2 of the sockets (like I said can't even get a plug in them now). But the connections at them should all be fine I did all the runs and a sparky mate made most of the connections (well he was doing about 3 to my 1). Can you tell be what you think might be wrong with the connections?

I forgot to add that each of the socket rings in the above post are less than 25m runs.

Ta

he means check inside for burn damage not outside.

turn off all the power 1st beofre you do anything because it could be a major disaster if you undo a damaged one with the power on.

normally a fishy smell is a sure sign that connections are loose and have been arcing for a period of time long enough to start to burn the terminal they are connected to.

you won't need us to tell you which it is, once you have turned the power off, carefully open the sockets one by one and inside you will more than likely find a burnt set of wires & socket plate. that will be where the wires will need terminating again and the socket will have to be replaced.

Yes i know he means inside, I already mentioned the sockets had melted a bit , this wasn't just deduced from not getting a plug in, I have had them off the wall to check and they just look like they have overheated and melted the plate slightly.



I didn't notice any signs of arcing (wouldn't this leave scorch marks?) anyhow I will check again as that was a while ago and like I said I haven't used them since. But Jeeezzz how loose do the connections have to be to arc? They are insulated right up to the terminals and they are defo not hanging out the terminals. So how loose is loose?

In the first 2 instances of this happening I put it down to using too long an extension and not having it fully unwound combined with having the kettle and toaster on at the same time. However with the third case on the oil filled radiator it was just a short extension and although the heater is on quite a bit it is on low.

The connections don't have to arc to overheat. They will overheat if the connection's loose enough so that there is some resistance in the connection.

You have to be tight enough for the screw to bite into the copper wire, but not so much to damage it. If you disconnect the wire, you should see that the screw has deformed the wire a little. This is necessary to break the coating of oxide that would add resistance. You get an oxide coating with every metal except gold.

If you disconnect the wires in your overheated plug, and examine the wire but can see no indent where the screw held it, it's likely the connection wasn't tight enough.

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very true Stods

however, if he smells a fishy smell then you can pretty much 99% say he will have a damaged socket because that smell comes from the burning plastic.

As said above the fish smell is overheating plastic, a common cause would be poor terminations. What is the device that is protecting the circuit? The circuit should only be enclosing an area of 100M2. The business with the unwound extension is a red herring as far as the ring circuit is concerned (no pun intended regarding the smell )

Loose connections within the plug topitself or a weak fuse holder can cause problems as well.

Both ring mains are RCD'd although neither episode melting the backplate tripped them?, the area for each is under 30m2



Okay guys I beleive you, I'm replacing the sockets and will be checking the tightness of my connections.



I'll be checking that also

many thanks for all the replies

just to point out bawser, you don't need to take out word for it, we don't mean it like that. what we do mean is that this should definitely be visible to your eyes when you find it.

are you 100% sure it is coming from the sockets and not a light fitting?

Or a fish or the other thing that smell of fish

A walrus?

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