A dumb poll ..

**confus-ed** · February 1st, 2005, 12:11 PM

So how many of these

or these

do you have plugged in in your house ?

I was searching for home insurance cover & I found one place that seemed very interested about this .. apparently if the ratio of plug points (where 'these' go into the walls) vs 'on appliances' (so how many might be plugged into adapters or 't-bars' etc) is greater than 1.5 then you have 50% more chance of having an electrical fire on average ..

So off I went to do an audit, & I have 28 plug points scattered about the place & 102 appliances plugged in ! (Now that was an eye opener ! No wonder my flaming bills are soooo high !)

My house is apparently going to burn down ! - will yours ?

**iceman** · February 1st, 2005, 12:57 PM

A bit like you - I'm gonna flame out soon! AND I live in a House that was a barn 50 years ago. Soooo... my electrical system is 50 years old!

**Cleetus** · February 1st, 2005, 01:07 PM

With the exception of my one plug holding tv/stereo/xbox/vcr or the other holding computer/monitor/printer/speakers I usually only have one or 2 things pluged in, if that much.

**Richard1** · February 1st, 2005, 01:17 PM

I hate to admit this but my plugs are all overloaded:

**NooNoo** · February 1st, 2005, 01:49 PM

Lesseee.. the office has one twin point supporting 2 4 gangs which are daisy chained to 1 6 gang and 1 8 gang, the other point in the office just runs a single 4 gang.

so you go round you add up the number of phone transformers, chargers of various descriptions, kettle, and a couple of radio alarm clocks, then there is the mess behind the tv and the other mess behind the hifi separates.... hmmmm

**iceman** · February 1st, 2005, 03:29 PM

Oh Noo! HEADLINE

"Favorite Mod of Windrivers burned by plug overload!!!!! Don't let this happen to you....."

**Archer** · February 1st, 2005, 09:28 PM

It would help no end if adaptors were insurance rated after all its all related to home safety and locks are rated so why not electrical accessories?
I mean you have your hi-fi with several 13 amp plugs,PC and peripherals more 13 amp plugs,multiple kitchen appliences all with 13 amp plugs and the list goes on.I mean Im sat here with two PCs [nothing special] and I have probably four or five plugs on each.
Go into any new UK Home made by any of the main builders [Wimpy.... cough] and you`ll see two twin 13 amp outlets in opposite corners of the room i.e. lounge and bedroom [one in the spareroom] and if your lucky depending on size,three twins in the kitchen.
So perhaps it is an inherited problem not an end user fault.I mean apart from electricians just who has three to four twin sockets on the wall behind their TV or stereo?

**Ferrit** · February 1st, 2005, 11:44 PM

I wired my own
2 plugs for any wall in the house basically cept hallways.
Those got one where it was appropriate and I put 6 double plug boxes on 1 15 A circuit.
I have a 150 AMP main

**NooNoo** · February 2nd, 2005, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by iceman

Oh Noo! HEADLINE

"Favorite Mod of Windrivers burned by plug overload!!!!! Don't let this happen to you....."

Fortunately none of the chains overload the circuit. All the 4 gangs are separately fused as well (I know I know, most 13 amp fuses will take 20 before they blow).

If you know how to add up the load and what the wiring is rated at and fuse accordingly, it doesn't matter if you have got 30 plugs on a single socket - what matters is that they fit correctly, are not damaged and cannot arc. The only other problem is peak load, eg turning on all the devices at the same time... that you must never do unless you are sure that the peak load is still within the circuit rating.

**confus-ed** · February 2nd, 2005, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

.. The only other problem is peak load, eg turning on all the devices at the same time... that you must never do unless you are sure that the peak load is still within the circuit rating.

That oughtn't to be a problem if you've got 'trip switches' (RCDs - residual current device) in your consumer unit (fusebox) - my 'shed' (my workshop) is wired seperately & every time I disappear for a bit to go contracting/whatever, I flick the switch on that circuit to save me running around turning everything off & then I have to anyway to get it to stay on when I get back !

**NooNoo** · February 2nd, 2005, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by confus-ed

That oughtn't to be a problem if you've got 'trip switches' (RCDs - residual current device) in your consumer unit (fusebox) - my 'shed' (my workshop) is wired seperately & every time I disappear for a bit to go contracting/whatever, I flick the switch on that circuit to save me running around turning everything off & then I have to anyway to get it to stay on when I get back !

nah good old fashioned bits of wire wrapped round fuse blocks here...

**Trout** · February 2nd, 2005, 10:22 AM

At My Old House 2 years ago, In my entranceway area, I had an aquarium plugged into 1 outlet via a 5 outlet supposed surge suppresser/terminal strip,I had 2 power head filters(submersable),1 heater,1 power canister filter (external) and 1 air pump plugged into it.

Went to leave one day and forgot something in the house,, walked back in and smelled the most terrible odor of burning plastic. Continued thru the house looking for any placed that my be a possible source of the smell.

Came back to the kitchen just as the unit finally melted down and began to bellow black smoke!!

Charred the inside of the aquarium stand, Melted 2 plugs on accessories, And the terminal strip was a BLOB literally.
Interestingly, Breakers had not blown, The breaker on the terminal strip hadn't even blown. VERY Scary!!

I imagine that had I not just happened in at that moment,A fire was clearly about to start. Though its possible that the 75 gallons of water that would spill once the stand gave away might of helped somewhat.
Really made me do a second take about how things get plugged in at our new house. LOADS of extra outletts and breakers. No Double taps at breaker boxes.
Trout

**gazzak** · February 2nd, 2005, 11:23 AM

I rewired this house about 5 years ago, taking extra consideration into where the TV/video/DVD etc would go and also where my computer stuff/home office would be going. I put in way too many sockets just to be on the safe side and thought I had more than enough to future proof the wiring.

I now have more extension leads than I can count without looking!!!

**TripleRLtd** · February 2nd, 2005, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by gazzak

I rewired this house about 5 years ago, taking extra consideration into where the TV/video/DVD etc would go and also where my computer stuff/home office would be going. I put in way too many sockets just to be on the safe side and thought I had more than enough to future proof the wiring.

I now have more extension leads than I can count without looking!!!

Other then the fact that my house was all redone before I bought it, that description would pretty much describe my place as well.

**inferno_gn** · February 5th, 2005, 10:33 PM

Hi there,

TV and DVD (mostly onn as I test DVDs), PS2 and Xbox, plug, but never on, just collecting dusts now. Computer system is on pretty much all the time. Fridge is on, microwave is on. That's about it, beside the lamps, but all of them have those energy saving light bulbs.

Ju Leon...