Did the fire brigade say this to me just to frighten me

jaymidlands

well they are sort of correct in that a device plugged in can cause a fire as its still drawing a very small amount of power...but to be honest I leave all our stuff on,and our sockets well they would have a fit as well but nothing is overloaded as charges and laptops dont draw much amps of power which is what would cause overloading of the wires..

poppysarah

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-statistics-great-britain

Loads of data if you want to go through it.


http://www.readersdigest.ca/home-garden/cleaning/top-10-causes-house-fires


Did you know...?
•
You’re more than twice as likely to die
in a fire if you don’t have a smoke
alarm that works.
•
18 people die each year because
the battery in their smoke alarm
was flat or missing.
•
Over half of home fires are caused
by cooking accidents.
•
Three fires a day are started by candles.
•
Every three days someone dies
from a fire caused by a cigarette.
•
Faulty electrics (appliances, wiring
and overloaded sockets) cause
around 7,000 house fires across
the country every year

(That's 19 fires a day!)

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_073993.pdf

SerialRenter

If i were you I'd find out the maximum power draw of each component, add them up on a load list, then use P=IV, rearranged to I=P/V, where V = 230 to work out the maximum current draw from each socket. If it's close to or above 13A then your socket is overloaded and you need to move some of the loads to another socket.

Switching them off at the wall or unplugging them isn't going to make much difference, if any at all. Standby power use can be inefficient for some devices, but your toaster or kettle shouldn't draw anything at all when they're not turned on. If your socket is overloaded already, turning them off does nothing to help because its still overloaded when you turn them back on!

MobileSaver

Viberduo wrote: »

Anyway I was told that every socket in the house is overloaded, ... I was told the only way it is safe is if the plugs are removed

I have every respect for the fire brigade but since when did they become qualified electricians?

Bantex_2

If they are referring to a possibly faulty appliance, it can cause a fire. There are a lot of dodgy chargers etc that have a habit of going up in flames.

hazyjo

An ex's dad was a fireman and used to say all plugs needed taking out. As someone above says, the SKY record wouldn't work, along with alarm clocks, and clocks set on microwaves, ovens, etc. It's just not the way we live any more where everything can be unplugged.

I do however unplug my hairdryer after every use - I was told that was one of the worst culprits for fires so the fear of god was put up me with that one! (I try to ignore the fact that several other plugs are still in!)

Jx

BornAtTheRightTime

hazyjo wrote: »

An ex's dad was a fireman and used to say all plugs needed taking out. As someone above says, the SKY record wouldn't work, along with alarm clocks, and clocks set on microwaves, ovens, etc. It's just not the way we live any more where everything can be unplugged.

I do however unplug my hairdryer after every use - I was told that was one of the worst culprits for fires so the fear of god was put up me with that one! (I try to ignore the fact that several other plugs are still in!)

Jx

It is good practice to unplug anything with a heating element if at all possible. A particular brand of hair straighteners (cheap copies IIRC) used to have a problem with the switches not staying turned off due to wear and tear and caused a fair few fires at one time.

agrinnall

What the fire brigade told me when they came to visit was that extension bars are generally fine (although you probably wouldn't want to daisy chain them too much) but that blocks are now considered unsafe - if that's what you have to connect multiple devices to a single wall socket then they are probably right to suggest it's not a good idea.

Dan-Dan

whats the differences , technically between extension bars and the triple plugs?

BornAtTheRightTime

Dan-Dan wrote: »

whats the differences , technically between extension bars and the triple plugs?

I find I have to bend the cables REALLY hard to get all 3 sockets used on a triple plug!