burning smell from cable or somewhere?

[jurgenjay]

Hi,

In the middle of today, we smelled something burning, the first reaction is electrical cable burned! We looked for where it smelled strongest and found it is upstairs hallway near radiator (which was not on at the time) and downstairs living room.

We called the electrician who did the electrical works for the house to come and check, he tested each socket which all worked, and all the lighting & switches were working, so it seems the sockets are fine, the lighting is ok!
He said halogen bulb could get hot and burned but my house is all LED so would not get burned.
Also, the consumer box & RCD was not tripped.

Clearly we smelled it like cable/plastic burning smell so where could it come from?
Or was that burning smell not related to electrical thing?

Thanks!

 

[jurgenjay]

I know. But you guys are not from near Dorset...
I will need to find some electrician, possible here the forum?

 

[ferg]

Was it the first time you used that particular part of the oven?
Oven elements are oil coated and this burns off during the first use.
Can be smelly / smokey.

 

[jurgenjay]

Was it the first time you used that particular part of the oven?
Oven elements are oil coated and this burns off during the first use.
Can be smelly / smokey.

Thank you! No, it's not first time, have been using it for months.
Just yesterday the fishy smell/burning smell same out.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Have not read the whole thread, but normally a fishy smell is a loose connection in one of the sockets or plugs arcing and burning the plastic of the socket or plug, switch off your power and take each socket off the wall, give the cables inside a bit of a tug to see if they are loose, when you find the loose one tighten the terminal, it can sometimes be the terminal has been screwed onto the insulation and not making proper contact with the copper, but please only carry out this if you are competent to do so, and DO remember switch off the power first.

 

[littlespark]

Have you distinguished it as a “fishy” smell or just taking cue from suggestions here?

Yes, it could be a loose wire causing heat and melting the plastic, but a burning smell could also be faulty electronics… found in dimmer switches, LED lamps, extractor fans etc.

 

[FatAlan]

Any portable lamps or hot light fittings that an insect has crawled into and fried? Probably the wrong time of year but there are still the odd fly or spider about? We used to have a corner lamp with a 150w bulb that used to cook loads of insects and make a right old stink.

 

[jurgenjay]

Have not read the whole thread, but normally a fishy smell is a loose connection in one of the sockets or plugs arcing and burning the plastic of the socket or plug, switch off your power and take each socket off the wall, give the cables inside a bit of a tug to see if they are loose, when you find the loose one tighten the terminal, it can sometimes be the terminal has been screwed onto the insulation and not making proper contact with the copper, but please only carry out this if you are competent to do so, and DO remember switch off the power first.

Thanks Mike! I wish I had raised this issue here just after it happened!
I called the electrician who did all the electrical works in this house (all sockets & switches, lights, circuit installation) to check, he had no idea what happened, said never seen this kind of thing before...
Even using a plug-like tool to check the sockets working or not was my suggestion....
Maybe because I had paid him all the money he had no willing to do anything further, or he just didn't know what to do...

He simply said nothing wrong but strong smell came from upstairs hallway and downstairs living room can not be nothing wrong!

 

[jurgenjay]

Have you distinguished it as a “fishy” smell or just taking cue from suggestions here?

Yes, it could be a loose wire causing heat and melting the plastic, but a burning smell could also be faulty electronics… found in dimmer switches, LED lamps, extractor fans etc.

To be precise, it was normally what we all know the plastic thing burning or some electrical cable burning smell, this is called "fishy smell", right?
Yesterday middle day was bright & was not using LED lighting, no dimmer switches in the house, no extractor fan was in use, but we were using oven at the time, so I gave this as a clue, but not sure if it was related or not.
We smelled it from upstairs hallway and downstairs living room, not one place...

 

[jurgenjay]

Any portable lamps or hot light fittings that an insect has crawled into and fried? Probably the wrong time of year but there are still the odd fly or spider about? We used to have a corner lamp with a 150w bulb that used to cook loads of insects and make a right old stink.

Thank you for the clue provided!
But yesterday middle day we did not use any light as it was bright, so this should not be the cause.
Also, the smell was strong in upstairs hallway and downstairs living room, so wouldn't be a portable lam caused.

 

[SJD]

I'm assuming this smell has only appeared after recent electrical work in the house that you mentioned?

So exactly what electrical work has been done?
And for example, anything involving high current appliances such as hobs, ovens, electric shower, etc?
Such as moving a hob, oven etc to a new location, and extending the supply cable?

 

[jurgenjay]

I'm assuming this smell has only appeared after recent electrical work in the house that you mentioned?

So exactly what electrical work has been done?
And for example, anything involving high current appliances such as hobs, ovens, electric shower, etc?
Such as moving a hob, oven etc to a new location, and extending the supply cable?

Thank you for your reply!
The house electrical works were done in July & August last year. After that, there indeed socket/cable issues happened: the upstairs hallway light was on and off after switched on, the electrician who did the house electrical work came and repaired that cable in the socket.
And downstairs dining room light flicked but when the electrician came it did not flick so he left.

Electrical works he did: all house sockets/switches//lighting installation, new circuits/cables installed. And yes, hob, oven, fridge freezer, washing machine, dryer all fitted into positions and cables/plugs installed etc.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Thanks Mike! I wish I had raised this issue here just after it happened!
I called the electrician who did all the electrical works in this house (all sockets & switches, lights, circuit installation) to check, he had no idea what happened, said never seen this kind of thing before...
Even using a plug-like tool to check the sockets working or not was my suggestion....
Maybe because I had paid him all the money he had no willing to do anything further, or he just didn't know what to do...

He simply said nothing wrong but strong smell came from upstairs hallway and downstairs living room can not be nothing wrong!

If he had never seen this kind of thing before, it tends to indicate little experience, did you get an EICR after this work was completed?

A plug in socket tester is very limited in what it can tell you, it would need physical inspection at the least and a Multi function tester at the best.

Check your sockets in the upstairs hallway and the downstairs living room, if the upstairs hallway is directly above the living room it could be transference between to two in what may be hollow walls.

I would suggest you get in a qualified electrician to do a thorough check, maybe someone on here is in your area?

 

[SJD]

Electrical works he did: all house sockets/switches//lighting installation, new circuits/cables installed. And yes, hob, oven, fridge freezer, washing machine, dryer all fitted into positions and cables/plugs installed etc.

If the property was completely rewired, then there should not be any hidden junctions that might be failing. But if perhaps the hob / oven was moved to a new location (e.g. in a kitchen refurb) and the old circuit extended, you could easily be a hidden junction with loose connections overheating and melting the plastic.

It might help to narrow it down to a specific circuit, e.g. if you were sure it was due to the oven or the hob.

Otherwise you need someone who has a bit more of a clue about what they should be looking for to investigate.

 

[jurgenjay]

If he had never seen this kind of thing before, it tends to indicate little experience, did you get an EICR after this work was completed?

A plug in socket tester is very limited in what it can tell you, it would need physical inspection at the least and a Multi function tester at the best.

Check your sockets in the upstairs hallway and the downstairs living room, if the upstairs hallway is directly above the living room it could be transference between to two in what may be hollow walls.

I would suggest you get in a qualified electrician to do a thorough check, maybe someone on here is in your area?

I had an Electrical Installation Certificate from him after the works done (it was insisted by me after Googled it that I should have it)
He is around 50 years old so he should have this experience before, to say: "never seen it before" probably he tried to say: "This only happened to you from my work done, the work I did never had this thing before....so that's your fault".

Thank you for letting me know the plug in socket tester is very limited! Yes, that's the thing he did and then concluded nothing wrong.
I will try to get some electrician to check properly!

 

[jurgenjay]

If the property was completely rewired, then there should not be any hidden junctions that might be failing. But if perhaps the hob / oven was moved to a new location (e.g. in a kitchen refurb) and the old circuit extended, you could easily be a hidden junction with loose connections overheating and melting the plastic.

It might help to narrow it down to a specific circuit, e.g. if you were sure it was due to the oven or the hob.

Otherwise you need someone who has a bit more of a clue about what they should be looking for to investigate.

Thank you for your input!

The house was not completely rewired, although all sockets/switches/lights fitted, and some new circuits and cable extended etc.
Yes, the hob/oven were moved to a new location and kitchen was refurbished---the aforementioned new circuits and cables were done in kitchen. So your are probably right that "a hidden junction with loose connections overheating and melting the plastic"----but the electrician did not mention or check kitchen loose connections etc. He just turned on oven to smell, but that smell was not from oven, it was from upstairs hallway and living room!

I am not sure if it was oven but only oven was in use at the time of burning smell came out.

I will get some electrician to investigate it properly.

Thanks again!