Electrical issue

Mickey666

Robin9 said:

@ Mickey666    See this mornings (25th Nov 2020) BBC Morning Live at 23/24 mins 

Hmm.  More sensationalist than conclusive?

There was no information about what devices were plugged in to cause the alleged overloading and the example of a phone charger that had burnt out was completely irrelevant in the context of daisy-chained plug blocks; indeed it was plugged into a wall socket as far as I could tell, so irrelevant to extension cables.  The point about not placing laptops on bedcovers etc thus blocking ventilation vents and possibly causing overheating, was similarly irrelevant to daisy-chained plug blocks.

For a more informative discussion among professionally qualified electricians, have a look at this discussion (among many others) from the Institute of Engineering & Technology forums: https://www2.theiet.org/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=205&threadid=20860. 

A few interesting points: 1) only UK plugs have integral fuses so it's not possible (unless tampered with) to plug anything into a wall socket that can draw more current than the wall socket can safely provide.  Without a fused plug, as in most countries, it would of course be possible to overload a socket using a multi-way adapter.  2)  Much of the advice against daisy-chaining plug-blocks is concerned with the risk of creating trip hazards, ie non-electrical issues.  3)  Extension leads (daisy-chained or not) should not exceed 15m unless the lead itself is protected with an integrated RCD.  Given that most plug blocks typically have 1.8m leads, exceeding 15m would indeed take some doing!  4) There might certainly be some issues with poorly-built, cheap, plug-blocks but that sort of consideration applies to pretty much all electrical goods - I'm sure we've all heard about cheaply cloned phone chargers etc being faulty and overheating, but again that's not really relevant to this discussion.

I have the following devices all plugged into a double wall socket in my home study:

PC, 3x Screens, printer, scanner, phone charger, DLSR charger, active speakers, 5-port Ethernet switch, desklamp,

How many times have you seen a room with a dozen wall sockets grouped closely together?  Exactly, so I use multiple plug-blocks, each with 1m leads, properly fused and I don't lose any sleep over it.

What other (practical) options do I have?