sparking sockets

[cleverspark]

I was talking to a friend on msn last night and they mentioned they are getting sparks from one or possibly two sockets when turning the switch off. normally after they have been ironing or something.
I have told them they should not use the sockets and get them checked out.
Just wonder if anyone had ideas on what the fault could possibly be.
My suggestion was that the live wire may have become loose (doesn't really explain why it only happens when switching off) or that the sockets themselves have went faulty. to which the reply was, I only paid to get them fitted 2 years ago!!!.
I suggested that they knock the power off and check the wiring or indeed just swap the sockets for ne since they are only a few quid each
so any other suggestions?

 

[davy_owen_88]

When breaking the circuit of relatively high power appliances you may get some arcing between the contacts as they separate. This is normal and is not normally that noticeable unless the room is dark.

If on the other hand the sparks are large and very noticeable then its something to get checked out. Checking for loose connections and replacing the socket if no loose connections are found is a good idea (with the power off first of course).

Davy

 

[JohnD]

This might happen if the iron is drawing power at the time, it should not happen if the iron has been turned to a cooler setting so the thermostat will have cut power to the heating element. An iron (like other "heating" appliances) draws quite a lot of power.

OOI, what brand are these sparky sockets?

 

[bernardgreen]

The switches on sockets are not really designed to cope with switching appliances on and off. Good quality ones will, cheaper ones may not.

Equipment with motors or other inductive loads will create a spike voltage at switch off. This can be several times the supply voltage and will cause a spark at the switch. The switch in the appliance is designed to cope with this and/or a suppressor is fitted across the switch. The switch in the socket is designed to cope with up to 400 volts the peak of 230 v mains is 313 volts.

Simple test

Turn the appliance off at its own switch ( or unplug ) before turning off the switch on the socket.

If there is still a spark in the socket when it's switch is operated then there is a fault. But this is not conclusive as the spark from a loose wire would require a current flowing via the loose joint to an appliance plugged in at another socket.

 

[ELZ4742]

just a thought, but would a dp switched socket cope better with such loads?

 

[cleverspark]

well thanks for all the replies, it is interesting to read about the current been drawn can cause a spike when switching the socket off at the wall, so by the sounds of it the main thing to do is to always turn the iron to the lowest heating source before turning the power off, hence reducing the current. guess that makes sense when thinking about it.
But i always thought that the plug socket would always be able to withstand what ever is intended to be plugged in to it and switched manually from there, but interesting point to remember.
Cheers

 

[bernardgreen]

just a thought, but would a dp switched socket cope better with such loads?

No

 

[Steve]

But i always thought that the plug socket would always be able to withstand what ever is intended to be plugged in to it and switched manually from there, but interesting point to remember.
Cheers

They are built to withstand it - the sparking socket aint hurting anyone is it? It is safely breaking a 13 amp current without breaking / blowing up / electrocuting anyone. All switches arc. Its a fact of life.