Overheated plug

[mick1970]

Hi all, appreciate any insight on this

Electrical novice here.

I have an 1800W infrared heater mounted on the wall in my conservatory/lounge. This is plugged into a 4 way gang plug (as built-in lead too short), in turn plugged into a Meross smart plug so I can turn off and on remotely. All rated at 13W. The wall socked is a 2-gang, the only other thing plugged in to the wall is a normal floor lamp, and nothing else on the gang for the heater.

I had recently noticed some slight melting on the Meross plug on one of the socket holes so I replaced it. However I had a closer look to see what was going on today. The plug for the gang going into the smart plug seemed OK, didn't feel hot. But the heater plug going into the gang was blazing hot! When it cooled down I could see the area round the fuse is melted and the gang plug is severely heat damaged. Needless to say none of this is being switched back on !

Any insights as to the cause and what I can do? I understand (googling) that high wattage devices may cause their plugs to heat a little, but this is way beyond that. Could it be that a little heat over time damages the plug causing more of a meltdown? Should I just rewire a new plug ?

At some point the gang plug itself was affected as it impacted the smart plug, could the problem cascade down the chain?

And could any of this be caused by the house electrics themselves rather than then devices?


Any help gratefully received . For now it's back to the blow heater

Mick

 

[Murdochcat]

Never use an extension lead with plug in heaters ..............

 

[mick1970]

The trouble is the built in lead is too short - when the heater is mounted at the correct height, the plug is 2ft off the floor with the lead hanging straight down. When you say never use an extension lead, what's the issue - extension lead perhaps not of good quality (could be the case) or something more fundamental? Otherwise how can I safely extend the lead to be of the right length?

I had planned at some point to get an electrician to wire it in properly with a proper fused switch but we were waiting until we redecorated the room..

UPDATE: ok just found this:

Electric Heater Safety - what you must not do

You must never plug an electric heater into an extension lead - that is our Number one electric heater safety tip

www.draelectricals.co.uk

 

[wundaboy]

The main problem is the moulded plug on the heater - I frequently see these burning up like that on heaters and dryers as the solder connections inside are frequently very poorly made and unable to conduct the current without significant resistance heating. Replace it with a good quality rewireable plug and that part of the problem will go away.

However, as others have said, using mass market extension leads and ancillary products such as the smart plug is not ideal - most of them are manufactured as cheaply as possible using poor or indifferent quality materials, meaning that they're only really suitable for light loading. Even a moderate load such as your 1800w is too much for many of them, as you've found out.

If you must use an extension (and I don't recommend it) I've found the Brennenstuhl ones to be of good quality and able to deal fine with 2kW loads. Again though, it shouldn't be considered a long term solution.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extension-...188031,p_4:Brennenstuhl&c=ts&ts_id=1338188031

 

[mick1970]

Thanks very much for the information and the link. The IR heater has worked well so I think what I'll do is talk to my usual electrician about getting one wired in, and order a different one that has a remote/wifi on board so I don't need to use a smart plug.

In the short term, is there an option to extend the current lead e.g. using an inline junction box and suitable additional cable? Or is that a bad idea?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Any help gratefully received . For now it's back to the blow heater

Your photos suggest the source of overheating, was mainly from the 13amp fuse, and the heat has tracked to the live pin of the plug, plug then socket. Even so, extensions, and particularly - Smart Plugs are never a good idea with heavy loads imposed on them.

A 2Kw load, depends upon good, robust connections, likely the 13amp fuse was loose in plug's terminals.