Urgent electrical question

trailingspouse

Hi all


Just went to empty to washing machine, to find that it's still full of water. No power coming through to it at all. Also, the tumble dryer next to it isn't working. They both take their power from an extension cable (nothing else plugged into it) that runs to a socket on the wall.


I've checked the consumer unit - no fuses blown. I've checked other sockets on the same circuit, they're working fine. The tumble dryer is quite elderly (coming up 20 years), but the washing machine is less than 5. Both have been trouble free until now, and regularly used at the same time.



The only thing different from how they've always been used is that the tumble dryer was on the 'high heat' setting (I normally only use the lower heat setting) - could that have anything to do with it?



Any ideas what the problem could be?


SORTED!!


I pulled the tumble dryer out so that I could get at the business end of the extension cable. I plugged the tumble dryer in separately, and it worked. Yay. Then I plugged the washing machine in separately, and it worked too. Double yay. All I need to do now is get another extension cable.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

trailingspouse wrote: »

All I need to do now is get another extension cable.

Or maybe not, running those two high powered machines at the same time off an extension cable isn't a good idea as you've found out.

I'm not sure if a double plug on a ring main will support both or if you need 2 separate plug sockets (or maybe separate circuits but that seems extreme), maybe someone else can advise the best set up for running both.

Dan-Dan

My initial thought was extension lead, along with the fact it is likely they are both too high powered to be running of it

Aylesbury_Duck

As above. If both machines were running their heating elements at the same time, you exceeded the current the fuse in the extension cable could bear. It blew, probably saving you from a potentially more dangerous problem of an overheating cable/extension.

Don't buy another extension cable, you'll have the same problem. The appliances need plugging into their own sockets.

keith969

Ditto. You can't run 2 (potentially) 3kW devices off a single extension lead. It will blow the fuse in the lead at the very least.

FreeBear

trailingspouse wrote: »

Just went to empty to washing machine, to find that it's still full of water. No power coming through to it at all. Also, the tumble dryer next to it isn't working. They both take their power from an extension cable (nothing else plugged into it) that runs to a socket on the wall.

No. No. NO. Do not ever run a washing machine or a tumble dryer off an extension lead. It is dangerous, against the advice & guidance contained in most (all?) user manuals for these products. In addition, when a fire starts, your household insurance will not cover you.


There was a thread a year or two back - Someone had plugged a washing machine into an extension lead and testing it out in their new kitchen. Left it unattended for a short while, and had to call the fire brigade to put out the fire. Insurance Co. refused to pay out for the damage, and the washing machine manufacturer rejected a warranty claim.


DO NOT DO IT

trailingspouse

OK. I take your point.



Trouble is, the leads that come with the machines aren't long enough to reach the existing sockets - hence why we had an extension lead in the first place.



Looks like I was right about the root cause of the problem - I normally only ever use the lower heat setting on the tumble dryer, but today used the high heat setting - and the washer happened to be on at the same time. It looks like that's what caused the problem.



This is going to need some thinking about.

stragglebod

keith969 wrote: »

Ditto. You can't run 2 (potentially) 3kW devices off a single extension lead. It will blow the fuse in the lead at the very least.

Blowing the fuse is the best possible result. If you've bought something cheap and nasty off ebay it's possible it has no fuse at all, in which case you'll see something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGPkkOU3Uf8

stragglebod

trailingspouse wrote: »

This is going to need some thinking about.

Not much thinking required. Call a sparky, he can do the thinking for you.

Risteard

trailingspouse wrote: »

Hi all


Just went to empty to washing machine, to find that it's still full of water. No power coming through to it at all. Also, the tumble dryer next to it isn't working. They both take their power from an extension cable (nothing else plugged into it) that runs to a socket on the wall.


I've checked the consumer unit - no fuses blown. I've checked other sockets on the same circuit, they're working fine. The tumble dryer is quite elderly (coming up 20 years), but the washing machine is less than 5. Both have been trouble free until now, and regularly used at the same time.



The only thing different from how they've always been used is that the tumble dryer was on the 'high heat' setting (I normally only use the lower heat setting) - could that have anything to do with it?



Any ideas what the problem could be?


SORTED!!


I pulled the tumble dryer out so that I could get at the business end of the extension cable. I plugged the tumble dryer in separately, and it worked. Yay. Then I plugged the washing machine in separately, and it worked too. Double yay. All I need to do now is get another extension cable.

You will burn the house down running those off an extension lead.

Risteard

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Or maybe not, running those two high powered machines at the same time off an extension cable isn't a good idea as you've found out.

I'm not sure if a double plug on a ring main will support both or if you need 2 separate plug sockets (or maybe separate circuits but that seems extreme), maybe someone else can advise the best set up for running both.

You must not run two heavy load appliances off a double socket-outlet. They're not designed for that and are only rated at 20A total - tested with a moderate overload of 14A on one outlet and 6A on the other for one hour as specified by BS1363.