Dangerous 13A Plugs

[Xerces Fobe2]

I purchased an electric fire earlier this year from a well known DIY chain’s store and noticed a slight burning/electrical smell when I first used it. I thought the smell was due to the fire being new and thought no more about it. With the summer the fire was not used however with the onset of Autumn I started using the fire again and the smell was still apparent.

 

On Tuesday this week the fire suddenly stopped working and on investigation I found that the 13A plug had melted leaving a hole in the top with the live pin exposed. Being a former electronics engineer I am always careful with faulty electrical equipment which is just as well as the plug for this fire was behind it and I could of easily reached behind and drawn current like a 3^rd rail EMU!

 

In my opinion the reason for this failure was that the fuse holder was made of metal that was too thin and could not handle the current passing through it for a sustained period of time. I have checked on the web and there are numerous reports of similar incidents of faulty 13A plugs.

 

The store in question has acted in a professional manner has refunded the cost of the electric fire and sent it to a special department they have for incidents such as this. I have contacted Trading Standards who are also looking in to this issue.

 

Below are some photos of the damaged plug please look at the markings and check you have none of these plugs in your house as they could cause serious injury or worse to you or members of your family.

 

 

Xerces Fobe

[Robert]

Good Grief!

 

It's a long time since I have seen a plug in quite such a bad condition.

 

The plug has a kite mark too...

[Edwin_m]

On the pin side of the plug does it give the maximum rated current? Sometimes you see them rated at less than 13A, in which case somebody is at fault in fitting it to the fire with a 13A fuse.

 

It may also be the fuse is pushed down a bit in its holder so the contact area with the clip is very small and gets hot, or just possibly the live wire is only touching a small part of the screw terminal. Either again are design or manufacture faults.

 

The final possibility is counterfeit goods. Never heard of this in a plug but I read about counterfeit circuit breakers being sold that looked the part but contained only a switch with no current sensing capability at all! I suspect your retailer will be looking back up their supply chain to see if anything like this could have happened.

[Re6/6]

It's a little odd that the plug was not of the 'moulded' BS1363 type ..i.e. permanently fixed to the cable with no screws. This seems to be the norm these days.

 

Thanks for bringing it to our attention Nigel. I'll be looking at all my 'high current' appliance plugs now.

 

I suspect this was a quality/counterfeit matter.

[Southernman46]

I would endorse the comment above - it is very, very unusual for an item of electrical goods nowadays to be sold with a accessible non-moulded plug - nasty !

[Oldddudders]

I would endorse the comment above - it is very, very unusual for an item of electrical goods nowadays to be sold with a accessible non-moulded plug - nasty !

Exactly. I was surprised to see the "afterthought" plug, which may mean goods have been made for one country, then exported to UK markets with a revised plug.

 

As for counterfeit goods in this area, my builder (English, but a legit French trader, not a cowboy on the black) tells me that the French domestic electrics market has counterfeit items in the supply chain which are not even known to their reputable sellers. In a world where people cheerfully buy and wear fake watches and designer clothes, making money out of inferior counterfeit products of any sort would seem feasible.

[edcayton]

I am not aware of any of that type of plug being rated at less than 13amps. Surely by definition it is a 13 amp plug? I have checked British Standards and they refer to "13 amp" plugs and sockets (BS1363).

Having said that I have noticed a "fishy" smell from some unbranded plugs fitted to high current appliances. I will only buy MK plugs, sockets, junction boxes etc-assuming they are not fakes. I do use a reputable electrical supplier.

 

Ed

[edcayton]

When I was teaching the Engineering department's chief technician was given the task of "asset tracking" every electrical appliance and safety checking the plugs. He was astounded at the number of badly fitted or damaged plugs he came across.

[stewartingram]

Speaking also as an electronics engineer, I have come across many plugs over the years, including those from reputable makes such as MK, where the fuseholder clips have become a little tired, thus leaving a high resistance connection to the fuse. Usually this has resulted in intermittent operation, though I have noted warmth on occasions when investigating the intermittency. Remedy has been to remove the fuse, squeeze the clip and then refit fuse.

As a matter of course I automatically check this now whenever the plug cover is off.

[Edwin_m]

I've just checked a few plugs at random and they all say 13 amps on them, even some very flimsy looking ones that appear to be made of (meltable) thermoplastic (and in my case are on low-current appliances and fused at 3A). However I believe it was at one time legal to sell "13A" plugs with a lower rating. In view of the obvious issues with this, I wouldn't be surprised if it was no longer allowed.

 

I also found a "Laco" plug on a heater which has the same logo as the one on the OP's photo. However the logo is on the pin side and this heater is several years old so unlikely to be part of the same batch. Just looked inside and no sign of charring round the fuse holder. It is considerably more solid-looking than some of the above-mentioned flimsy ones.

[spamcan61]

I would endorse the comment above - it is very, very unusual for an item of electrical goods nowadays to be sold with a accessible non-moulded plug - nasty !

 

I agree it's relatively unusual, but I've bought a couple of appliances in the last year that have had these non moulded plugs, it did surprise me they're still around.

 

Most likely cause does indeed look like a fairly high resistance contact between fuse and holder.

[Horsetan]

I wonder if the product was made in China...... my parents have table lamps and ceremonial lights which came from there, and the wiring on those scares me!

[bertiedog]

It is a loose fuse that is the core problem, bad contact, resistance and as it heats the contact gets worse, leading to arcing and fire.

ALL 13 amp plugs are just that, they are 13 amp design and the fuse fitted gives the working rating, and it is not really the design that is at fault, but a faulty assembly or undersized fuse casing, a very common problem.

 

It is normal practice by regulation to fit moulded plugs to newly supplied equipment, but it is not against the law as such to supply with a competently fitted 13 amp replacement plug, after all they can be fitted after servicing etc., quite legitimately.

 

WHEN FITTING ANY FUSE IT IS BEST TO CLEAN THE FUSE, AND BEND THE PLUGS CONTACTS A BIT TIGHT SO THAT IT REALLY "SNAPS" INTO PLACE, gives peace of mind.

[298]

It's a little odd that the plug was not of the 'moulded' BS1363 type ..i.e. permanently fixed to the cable with no screws. This seems to be the norm these days.

 

Thanks for bringing it to our attention Nigel. I'll be looking at all my 'high current' appliance plugs now.

 

I suspect this was a quality/counterfeit matter.

 

I'm not endorsing non-moulded plugs, but think if something is suspect, surely it'd be easier to take the plug apart for inspection rather than trust what's sealed inside a moulded plug....?

 

Pleae let us know the outcome of the trading standards and retailers investigations.

[Xerces Fobe2]

Thanks for all the comments - i was surprised that when I purchased the fire that the plug was not of the moulded type. It is also interesting to note that the electric fire was devoid of product name or part number however the packaging it came in had a brand and number.This electric fire was not expensive and I guess a generic design that is supplied by many retailers who box it with their own brand name. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this practice however it is possible that sub standard goods get into the supply chain with the retailer being unaware of this. I do not think that the DIY chain store i purchased it from would have knowing stocked sub standard and dangerous goods, because their business could be severely impacted in the event of an accident where there was a serious injury or worse.

 

I will certainly check whenever I purchase all electrical goods in future.

 

Xerces Fobe

[Bernard Lamb]

I bought a TV booster today at ****** and lo and behold on unpacking it I found that it had a plug with very similar markings to the one that started to burn. It was also a removable type. Only a 3 amp fuse in this application.

Bernard

[Huw Griffiths]

Thanks for letting us know about this.

 

Not surprisingly, I've also gone round the house, to check for similar plugs - and found none - but these abominations often seem to appear on cheap "badge engineered" kettles, toasters and the like.

 

 

At this time of year, there's something else they show up on - cheap Xmas tree lights - especially the bulb based ones from some cheap shops. I'd also be extremely wary of those "Xmas shops" that seem to spring up in disused units on most high streets.

 

Saying that, cheap tree lights do have their uses - especially the LED ones - they can sometimes make a good source of LEDs for projects and experiments - but, even then, I'd be more likely to get them from places I know.

 

No surprises there - I've always been fussy about things electrical.

[Huw Griffiths]

When I was teaching the Engineering department's chief technician was given the task of "asset tracking" every electrical appliance and safety checking the plugs. He was astounded at the number of badly fitted or damaged plugs he came across.

 

I wouldn't be - but only because I came across hundreds of the things when I was tasked with plug wiring checks and PAT testing in my last job (instrumentation technician in a university civils department).

 

 

I was absolutely ruthless about condemning (or insisting on repairs on) anything dangerous I saw - anything from plugs with cable clamps and strain reliefs deliberately sabotaged, to plugs wired with thermocouple cable ( very high resistance; conductors made from different metals; insulation not rated for anything like mains voltage; colour codes nothing like anything you'd find in the IEE wiring regulations).

 

Please don't get me started about my real pet hate - "Xmas tree" multiway cube adapters - they didn't last very long if I came across them. Some of you might have seen a recent programme on Quest, where they had some guy in a scrapyard attacking a scrap Boeing 727 with demolition claws and a circular saw - "you ain't seen nothin' yet". "Cut it in half"? More like "smash it in pieces" - followed by donation to a skip. By the way, I know why that guy was grinning from ear to ear - when stuff is no longer safe to use, smashing it up can be really satisfying.

 

You can safely assume that, following my first round of electrical safety checks, some lecturers didn't know what had hit them. (I was pleasant about things - and very helpful about safety repairs etc - but I didn't stand any nonsense.) You can also safely assume that most of these guys didn't make the same mistakes again.

 

 

In practice, certain labs actually had very harsh environments - and some equipment would inevitably be subject to abuse - so I knew that certain repairs would be a fact of life in some places. Fair enough.

 

Less enjoyable was coming across very distinctive "carbon copy" plug wiring faults on a lot of new equipment in some people's offices.

 

Moulded plugs were a definite plus here - but some of them fail from time to time. When was the last time you checked that the wire doesn't move in or out on a moulded plug? If you can see a groove all round the wire, a few millimetres away from the end of the plug cable strain relief, "be afraid ... be very afraid".

 

 

Saying that, a lot of the people I worked with were just as careful as me when it came to electrical safety - I could rely on their plug wiring being works of art, for all the right reasons. Most of the rest soon took the hint when I appeared with wire cutters and a few rolls of red prohibition stickers - and this suited me just fine.

 

Like a lot of people who've had to do any sort of health and safety enforcement, I took no pleasure from telling people they couldn't do certain things or use certain equipment. I merely wished to avoid all the boring paperwork that could follow any sort of accident. (I'm sure there must have been another reason why I didn't want accidents, but I never encountered it. Anyway, I'm sure most people would forgive me for having a slightly dry sense of humour!)

 

 

Seriously though, all of this goes to show that you can't be too careful.

 

All the best, Huw.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Just a quick one here from a guy with limited electrical know-how. Is there any safety advantage in fitting a lower amperage fuse in a 13A plug?

I know it's probably a daft question, I'm just curious.

 

Dave.

[Butler Henderson]

You should always fit the fuse recommended for the appliance. Having said that for a lot of 3A recommendations it is possible to fit a 2A or 1A fuse instead for better protection of the applicance and its cable.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Thanks. I wondered if having a lower 'blow' threshold would have offered better protection.

 

Dave

[bertiedog]

The fuse should always match the demand, never leave a device designed to use only 2 amps on a 13 amp fuse, this is the whole basis of fuse safety, if the device, what ever it is, needs, say, 3 amps to run, then a fuse with the working margin would be chosen, most likely 4 amps etc. The maker will have tested the device and should list a suitable rating.

 

 

Fuses are designed to have a working "blow" margin, a level above the marked value, but the accepted practice is to fit a fuse to match the requirement to make the choice easier for the consumer.

 

If the fuse rating is smaller, it is safer in theory, but a point is arrived at where the surges of switching on and off on AC mains will strain and blow the fuse.

 

For this reason some fuses are "Slo-Blow" , they can take surges etc without blowing. These are usually internal equipment fuses, not in plugs.

 

Mains fuses are actually somewhat "slo-blow" in actual action, so picking the right one is vital, check the equipment, and it should state somewhere the required fuse rating. If in doubt fit a lower rating, but only do this if your are trained to assess the situation, as usual with electrics, if you do not know what to do, get in an expert!!!

 

Stephen

[Guest Max Stafford]

Thanks for the advice Stephen. I will hold to this as I generally do. For the record, I have always appreciated that you shouldn't put a 'big' fuse in a 'small' appliance but was curious about how it would work the other way around. Not that I was going to test the theory without gauging the opinion of those better placed to know!

 

Dave.

[max]

Hmmmm,why is it that UK style plugs have a build in fuse? This seems not to be the practice in many other (developed) countries around the world.Also many appliances have their own,build in fuses.

 

 

Max

[Pannier Tank]

Hmmmm,why is it that UK style plugs have a build in fuse? This seems not to be the practice in many other (developed) countries around the world.Also many appliances have their own,build in fuses.

 

 

Max

 

To protect against a short in the cable to the appliance. How for instance would you protect a Soldering Iron if there is no Fuse in the plug?