Dead socket.

[Ken Smith]

Hi from France, I,m an all round DIY,er so when a mate ask me to bring my electrical tool bag to have a look at a dead socket I did so. With everything switched off I stripped the socket to find that there had been arcing but what confused me was that it was the neutral arcing to earth. I given this a lot of thought and the only conclusion I can reach is that he uses adaptors (three pin, British to three pin French) and something is wrong with the adaptor. I've fitted a new socket and everything appears to be working, or, should I convince him to get rid of the adaptor?
Looking forward to enlightenment, cheers Ken S.

 

[westward10]

Can you post a picture of the damage to the old socket.

 

[Wilko]

Yes, love to see the socket.
Do you know the type of earthing system for the house?

 

[Ken Smith]

Can you post a picture of the damage to the old socket.

Sorry I can't, but I can say that the live wire was as clean as a whistle no sign of damage at all, the neutral went from the primary socket to the secondary one running tight against the earth wire and this is where the melt-down occurred. The reason I mentioned the adaptor was another mate told me they were unreliable for any high-load appliances but as an amateur I couldn't understand the ins and outs of it all. Needless to say the adaptor has gone in the bin and a proper plug has been fitted.

 

[Ken Smith]

Yes, love to see the socket.
Do you know the type of earthing system for the house?

I don't know what type of earthing system is in use but the distribution box (do they still call them that) is more modern than mine, I should have added that the trip switch operated as per requirement.

 

[Richard Burns]

The voltage between neutral and earth should not be high enough to cause arcing.
Therefore the ideas that spring to mind are that there is reversed polarity on the circuit so that the neutral is actually line, alternatively there is a high resistance neutral on the circuit so raising the potential of the neutral before the fault to near the line potential.

 

[Ken Smith]

The voltage between neutral and earth should not be high enough to cause arcing.
Therefore the ideas that spring to mind are that there is reversed polarity on the circuit so that the neutral is actually line, alternatively there is a high resistance neutral on the circuit so raising the potential of the neutral before the fault to near the line potential.

Thanks Richard, I'll check the reversed polarity angle and if it isn't that then he can get a real sparky in to re-wire where necessary.