Elec blow out

[goldenmeadow]

Hi,
In my kitchen there is an elec box on the wall
on left a red switch saying cooker,. on right another red switch and a 3 pin socket.

We have a gas cooker now and use the socket for the plug into the gas cooker to light the
rings and oven

Another use for the socket once a week is to plug in the washer to do a wash
then the cooker plug is put back .

On wed I heard banging from the kitchen and there were flashes.

I went in to see the elec box black ....... the plastic plug ( for the cooker ) black and half melted
the fuse completley burned up.

All I can think is that the plug had been arcing......... maybe the plug was nt pushed in far enough..
.............though I doubt that ...........

The elec box is a mess, it will have to be replaced with a double electrical socket .

But its scary that such a thing should happen out of the blue....... I dare say if it had been nearer to a curtain or something, it could have started a fire.

Luckily nothing in the system seems to be affected, all lights work... all plugs still work


'.

 

[sparks1973]

fault on the cooker....get an electrician in to test appliance and any cabling (including cooker flex and fixed wiring to the cooker outlet)...

 

[stef]

Make sure it is isolated (fuse or circuit breaker) ...

 

[sparks1973]

Make sure it is isolated (fuse or circuit breaker) ...

probably a BS3036 here stef....as its taken out the outlet with a bang....

 

[Brightspark2]

You only need to do the washing once a week?!?!?...

 

[goldenmeadow]

fault on the cooker....get an electrician in to test appliance and any cabling (including cooker flex and fixed wiring to the cooker outlet)...

the plug is connected to a gas cooker.... only used to ignite the gas.

 

[goldenmeadow]

You only need to do the washing once a week?!?!?...

How often do you put the washing machine on ?

 

[Brightspark2]

How often do you put the washing machine on ?

Never...

How often does my girlfriend put it on? everyday!!...I dont know what she's washing but it keeps her busy :smug:

 

[sparks1973]

the plug is connected to a gas cooker.... only used to ignite the gas.

but you quote in your O/P that the cooker plugtop has wilted....just because its `only` being used as ignition for the gas cooker doesn`t mean it isn`t capable of developing faults....

 

[telectrix]

or get a gas washing machine.

 

[Rampage]

Surely it's the spark ignition that's caused it then if the plug if proper burnt.
I'm not really sure how the spark ignition works (presumably just a transformer) but what would happen if the two electrodes were touching when it was used?

 

[sparks1973]

or get a gas washing machine.

just out of interest...can you still get gas fridges?...used to have em in caravans didn`t they?...

 

[goldenmeadow]

Banter aside........to me this is incredible, assuming the plug was properly in
the socket .. and I think it was...
that the socket and plug should suddenly burn up like that with bangs
and flashes....... is very very strange.

I dont know whether to let some official... say from some council dept of safety
to come and have a look at it before I change the socket.... just to record
the incident and maybe investigate with the elec company........
OK that cooker box and socket could have been 40 years old, but even
so that should never have happened .

 

[Rockingit]

Banter aside........to me this is incredible, assuming the plug was properly in
the socket .. and I think it was...
that the socket and plug should suddenly burn up like that with bangs
and flashes....... is very very strange.

I dont know whether to let some official... say from some council dept of safety
to come and have a look at it before I change the socket.... just to record
the incident and maybe investigate with the elec company........
OK that cooker box and socket could have been 40 years old, but even
so that should never have happened .

Council won't be interested unless it belongs to them, I'd save the time and bother on the phone. What you DO need to do is get an experienced registered electrician to take a look and find out exactly what's happened so that it doesn't happen again.

 

[Rockingit]

In thinking about it, it might be an issue with the old CCU - maybe some contaminant has got in where there's now a hole where the cable should be and caused a short.

 

[micknew]

Yes seen it before, carbon tracking on the bar of of a rewirable consumers unit.

 

[goldenmeadow]

When you think about it...... there on the wall... above the stove.... is a foolish place
to put an electrical socket........getting the cooking... steam from boiling potatoes...
the heat from the oven............ its in the wrong place!

Its 40 years old too, maybe inside, some wire has perished
and begun to arc..... the heat from that has blackened the plug
and burnt out the fuse....

I cant take a look inside until I turn off the juice from the house, which I wont do until Ive got a new double socket.. with switches.... to replace the old one.

 

[trev]

If it's a council house get on to them as soon as possible, they even have emergency teams who will come out and have a look at the problem. If you own the place you need to get an electrician in to carry out an inspection and test of the installation.
If you post up your location I'm sure one of our members will be near you and can come to help. If the installation is 40 years old it's probably worth warning you that it has probably reached the end of it's safe useful life.
Please don't go poking around inside anything, it's not a good idea

 

[sparks1973]

trust me on this....get an electrician in...
given the characaristics of BS3036s (i assume thats the circuit protection thats being used here)..you cant be sure as to wether the cable has suffered damage as a result of this.....an electrician will of course be able to verefy this...before new fronts go on....

 

[Knobhead]

To quote Jeremy Clarkson. “I despair, I really do”.

The council will take an interest when you’ve burnt the house down. Do as has been suggested, get someone in that knows what they are doing.