Any electricians?

Goats left knee

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Noticed a burning smell in kitchen this morning. Noticed this evening it was coming from a double socket. There was a small amount of smoke coming from the socket.
So I switched off the electricity, removed the screws and disconnected the socket.. the brown wire had burnt its plastic covering and had burnt into the socket at its connection burning the casing and even the screw a little.so the wires are all loose and I pushed them into the wall and covered with tape til I get a new socket fitted.
Anyway strangely none of the other sockets in that corner of the kitchen now work, and none of the trip switches are down in the hall.
Anyone any idea why this is the case? And why would the socket have burnt up?
 
1. What was plugged into the socket at the time?
2. How old is the wiring?
3. What colour is the wiring in the socket?

Also, disconnecting the socket will affect every other socket beyond the faulty one in the circuit.
 
You'll have broken your circuit by disconnecting the cables.

You need to join the cables back together brown to brown, blue to blue and green/yellow to green/yellow preferably with 15amp strip connectors.

TURN POWER OFF BEFORE YOU START!!!


Best to leave it until you get a new socket to be safe. Make sure the screws are tight.
 
Ok thanks lads. Not so bad then. So just cos I disconnected that double plug socket the rest are down til it’s reconnected? Thanks
 
The burning will highly likely be caused by either drawing too much current for the insulation, but not enough to trip the protection device circuit (fuse/RCD), or a break down of the insulation of the socket, which is less likely.
 
Ok thanks lads. Not so bad then. So just cos I disconnected that double plug socket the rest are down til it’s reconnected? Thanks
Well given the fuse didn't trip I would certainly be a little more concerned that. It is likely that the loading on the ring main was way too much for the cabling, but not enough to trip the fuse. Given that, the burning that you discovered may not be the full extent of the damage.

The ring main fuse is there to protect the wiring of the circuit from overheating if you attempt to draw too much current. It should trip well before the wire gets hot enough to burn. I would certainly check the fuse, and if it has a test switch, check it. Press the test switch and it should trip pretty much instantly. If it doesn't trip, or it takes more than a second or so your fuse is defective. For a fuse without a test switch , I would replace it as a matter of course and also get your wiring checked.
 
Ok thanks lads. Not so bad then. So just cos I disconnected that double plug socket the rest are down til it’s reconnected? Thanks
Depends how it’s wired. It should either be a single socket if it’s on a spur or on the main house ring. A ring can tolerate a fault and the other sockets will still work. However in older houses it’s not uncommon that diy bandits connect spurs to existing spurs which is not allowed under the wiring regs and I’ve also seen 13A sockets connected to the lighting ring !
Either way mate get it checked out, as the circuit is obviously not right and either the RCD or Fuse should have gone on over current. If it’s a really old house with fuses, just check that it has the correct sized fuse wire installed and it’s not just a bit of metal connected across.
 

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