Burnt out fuse and socket space heater

[chana9]

Hi,

I woke up and found this plug on the floor.. its to a space heater radiator and i cant figure out how this has happened. The fuse is clearly burnt but perfectly in place, the cover to the fuse is missing but im unsure if it ever had one on and its left a mark on the socket, does this indicate that its caught fire? Its quite worrying. The green residue indicates some corrosion to me.

Now this is where it gets strange, the appliance was NOT in use when this happened. I had used it in another room, unplugged, plugged back into the bedroom where it usually stays and left it NOT in use, then id woken up to this, my wife is adamant she had not used it either.

is there anything anyone can think of for this to happen? I can accept the plug overheating if the appliance was in use, but it was not..

 

[blup]

Change the plug, if not that probably faulty socket or socket wiring. It will have happened when it was plugged in and you didn't notice.

Blup

 

[RandomGrinch]

My interpretation, and others may have differing opinions - where the burn marks are suggest the fuse was loose in the holder on the live side of the plug.

Given the nice rectangular mark on the socket, I would guess the fuse cover wasn't in place at the time.

If the switch on the socket was really turned off at the time, I would also guess that the switch could be faulty.

Whatever the problem, I would replace both the plug and the socket.

 

[ericmark]

I would also say change both plug and socket, the socket has spring tension to grip the plug, if the plug pins have heated up this tension could be lost, so does not matter if switch faulty or not, socket now needs changing. As well as of course the plug.

 

[chana9]

My interpretation, and others may have differing opinions - where the burn marks are suggest the fuse was loose in the holder on the live side of the plug.

Given the nice rectangular mark on the socket, I would guess the fuse cover wasn't in place at the time.

If the switch on the socket was really turned off at the time, I would also guess that the switch could be faulty.

Whatever the problem, I would replace both the plug and the socket.

Thanks,

Ill definitely be replacing the socket, and probably wont use that electric radiator again anyway if its causing that.

Stupid question, even with the appliance being off, if the fuse was slightly loose and the plug was plugged into the socket, could that cause the fuse to heat and cause that burn?

 

[blup]

Only if the socket switch was faulty, the fuse is just that not a capacitor

Blup

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Stupid question, even with the appliance being off, if the fuse was slightly loose and the plug was plugged into the socket, could that cause the fuse to heat and cause that burn?

No, not if it was really off. The burn is the result of current flowing via that fuse, and it's holder. Poor contact between the fuse and the holder, presented some resistance to the flow of current, with the result that heat was generated.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

No, not if it was really off. The burn is the result of current flowing via that fuse, and it's holder. Poor contact between the fuse and the holder, presented some resistance to the flow of current, with the result that heat was generated.

This. For that burn to occur the socket must have been energised and the appliance must have been drawing current. Does the heater have an actual hard OFF switch on it or just a thermostatic control? (If the latter then the recent cold snap will probably have driven room temp below setpoint thus turning the thing on with no human intervention required)

 

[chana9]

This. For that burn to occur the socket must have been energised and the appliance must have been drawing current. Does the heater have an actual hard OFF switch on it or just a thermostatic control? (If the latter then the recent cold snap will probably have driven room temp below setpoint thus turning the thing on with no human intervention required)

It has an on and off switch on the appliance itself yeah. It literally wasnt on, i used it in another room and then put it back to where it usually resides. I didnt turn it on as id gone out. I can guarantee it was not turned on

 

[oldbutnotdead]

It has an on and off switch on the appliance itself yeah. It literally wasnt on, i used it in another room and then put it back to where it usually resides. I didnt turn it on as id gone out. I can guarantee it was not turned on

3 possibles.
1 The switch or cable on the heater is defective
2 You left the switch in the ON position when you unplugged/moved/replugged the heater
3 Person(s) known or unknown switched it on, noticed after a while the nasty smell and possibly smoke from the plug, switched it off and are now denying they ever touched the thing (depressingly common in work environments)

 

[chana9]

3 possibles.
1 The switch or cable on the heater is defective
2 You left the switch in the ON position when you unplugged/moved/replugged the heater
3 Person(s) known or unknown switched it on, noticed after a while the nasty smell and possibly smoke from the plug, switched it off and are now denying they ever touched the thing (depressingly common in work environments)

1 - maybe
2 - very very slight chance but then id have felt the heat from it as i was in and out of the room
3 - its just me n my wife here, both of us were out

My other theory is that one of the pins had moisture on it or the plug itself when i plugged it in, but i dunno if that would cause the effects of what happened with it being switched off.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

1 - maybe
2 - very very slight chance but then id have felt the heat from it as i was in and out of the room
3 - its just me n my wife here, both of us were out

My other theory is that one of the pins had moisture on it or the plug itself when i plugged it in, but i dunno if that would cause the effects of what happened with it being switched off.

Nope. Socket switched off = no energy available. You need energy to create heat.