Double socket in kitchen smelt of fish

Crowdedhouse_2

Over the last month or so, I noticed a fish smell in the kitchen. Realised the smell only happened when I boiled the kettle.


Anyway, I unplugged it and realised that there was a scorch mark on the socket and one of the pins (don't know if that's the right term), on the actual plug, had partly disintegrated.


Thought at this point it was probably not a good idea to use that socket again. I also changed the plug on the kettle which now works fine on another socket.


Does anyone know why this socket has suddenly gone dodgy after 11 years' use with no problems? I rang an electrician who said he would come round last Friday to price the job for me. Am still waiting for him to turn up, the unreliable git.

Ben84

It's possible the contacts inside the socket are damaged or loose and causing it to heat up during use as poor contacts have higher resistance. Using it with the plug partly out the socket can also cause heating. It could have progressively deteriorated over time from heat, with the fault only being noticed now, rather than a sudden failure which seems unlikely.

I'm surprised the plug pin disintegrated however, they're supposed to be brass and really shouldn't crumble. So I also wonder if you had a poor quality plug? Might be worth investigating as the cause as there are fake plugs out there. If it looks suspect, trading standards would be interested.

anotherbaldrick

Sounds as if the contacts on the pin and socket had worn and the current had started arcing inside the socket.

Crowdedhouse_2

Ben84 thanks for your reply.


The plug came with the Breville kettle from Argos.

chrisw

Can you or a friend not change the socket? If you turn the power off first, it's no more difficult than replacing the plug on the kettle. A new double socket will be around £5 or less and take about 10 minutes to swap.

I had that fishy smell in the bedroom(!) for about 12 months which was really strong getting in to bed but I could find no trace of it when I investigated during the day. I finally realised it was the plastic bedside lamp holder getting too hot, to my great relief.

macman

If he can't price a socket change without a home visit first then you are effectively going to be paying him twice, so DIY or find another sparky. 15 minute job.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

macman wrote: »

If he can't price a socket change without a home visit first then you are effectively going to be paying him twice, so DIY or find another sparky. 15 minute job.

He may want to worry the OP about safety and upsell to a complete rewire. Depending on his ethics, of course.

Crowdedhouse_2

I think I will go and buy one from B and Q and hopefully that'll do the trick. Thanks.

Ben84

macman wrote: »

If he can't price a socket change without a home visit first then you are effectively going to be paying him twice, so DIY or find another sparky. 15 minute job.

To be fair, customers often describe things in confusing ways or simple don't describe the right thing as they're unsure what happened. I've had TV sets and record players which you'd think have been blown up from the customer's description come in and they've just needed a new power switch, and I've had things which sounded trivial and turned out to have been on fire inside or dropped down the stairs. As clear as the customer's description sounds, you just don't know until you see it. I think it would be a mistake to promise a fix until the fault has been seen in person, so even when I'm thinking to myself "Oh, that should be easy..." I hold back saying it until I'm sure. So the electrician isn't behaving oddly I think, just cautiously. He may well offer to replace it during his first visit if it's the only problem he finds. Best to talk about the range of options before anyone comes, particularly in a case like this where it looks like a small fixture that's broken. Just ask, if the only thing wrong is the socket, will he have the part and time to replace it on the first visit?