Smell of rubber
- Thread starter ro63rto
- Start date
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ro63rto said:
I have a bulletproof vest that can stop a rifle round. Therefore it must be able to stop a cruise missile too.
Stupid logic. Did the guy work in B&Q perchance?
ro63rto said:
No. Because your old shower was pulling 7.5 KW and not 8.5 KW
That's 4.3 Amps difference.
Your cable was getting hot before. But maybe not hot enough to sublime the insulation. The extra 4.3 A may have tipped it over the edge.
Usually these things only fail at one end or the other where the connections are made, and the effective cross=section for current carrying is suddenly reduced from the full diameter to one green and furry brass M3 bolt, loose or overheated or both...
However, while burning the house down is mercifully unlikely, certainly unpleasant quantities of smoke and a loud bang one day are the normal consequences of mildly overloaded cable.
The previous occupant may also have not thought much of the smell either ... or perhaps he was quick in and out of the shower. It could just be 2.5mm - it probably will not actually fail nor reach incandescence (burning temperatures), even at 100% overload, but it will be well less than happy, and the hot cores will slowly migrate through the insulation on any tight corners rather like a cheese wire - one day they may either emerge through the side or touch each other. In PVC this effect really gets going above 120 degrees. Many formaldehyde plastics smell of rotting fish when they overheat - if it really is rubber its getting on a bit anyway.
Despite everyone saying that insulation and earth loop measurements are essential, they often don't pick up this sort of thing until well advanced to the point of charring and carbon bringing between cores, and as you have seen, a good nose and visual inspection is 90% of the early warning fault find.
As regards cable routing, what is on the other side of the wall - if its not the neighbours lounge, then a through drill behind the shower and surface or trunking on the other side might be the easiest way to save the tiles, at least until a better solution can be afforded.
(I'll not mention P.P. either - in this case doing almost anything, regs or not will be so much better than leaving it as it is.)
However, while burning the house down is mercifully unlikely, certainly unpleasant quantities of smoke and a loud bang one day are the normal consequences of mildly overloaded cable.
The previous occupant may also have not thought much of the smell either ... or perhaps he was quick in and out of the shower. It could just be 2.5mm - it probably will not actually fail nor reach incandescence (burning temperatures), even at 100% overload, but it will be well less than happy, and the hot cores will slowly migrate through the insulation on any tight corners rather like a cheese wire - one day they may either emerge through the side or touch each other. In PVC this effect really gets going above 120 degrees. Many formaldehyde plastics smell of rotting fish when they overheat - if it really is rubber its getting on a bit anyway.
Despite everyone saying that insulation and earth loop measurements are essential, they often don't pick up this sort of thing until well advanced to the point of charring and carbon bringing between cores, and as you have seen, a good nose and visual inspection is 90% of the early warning fault find.
As regards cable routing, what is on the other side of the wall - if its not the neighbours lounge, then a through drill behind the shower and surface or trunking on the other side might be the easiest way to save the tiles, at least until a better solution can be afforded.
(I'll not mention P.P. either - in this case doing almost anything, regs or not will be so much better than leaving it as it is.)
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I've said before that I think that inspection and testing, both for EICs/MWCs and PIRs should include the use of thermal imaging cameras on appliances, accessories and cables (as far as is practicable) with the circuits under full load.mapj1 said:
mapj1 said:
Thanks
On the other side is my second bedroom. This is a good idea. Hope the wall is thick enough to bury the cable with whatever conduit is necessary. The walls are really thin. So thin you can hear the neigbours rustle a plastic bag on the other side
Any way of determining how thick WITHOUT drilling any holes as we have had the room skimmed ready to paint and my plastering skills are about as good as Roger Moores acting skills.....
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