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.