Routine replacement of sockets

Alun

I've had a bit of a problem with the ELCB tripping recently randomly out of the blue, and I think I've tracked it down to a dodgy twin socket in the kitchen. See pictures of the insides of it below :eek: ...






Now, this socket doesn't get a lot of use in terms of things being plugged in and out, but there's clearly been some serious arcing going on there, possibly in the past before we moved in, as there's no sign of anything amiss on the pins of the plugs that were in that socket.

There's no identifiable maker's name on the socket that I can see, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to replace every socket in the house with ones from a reputable manufacturer given that they're all of the same vintage, and possibly of a poor standard?

Stoner

TBH they dont look great

topmanamillion

One step at a time I would think. That socket definitely needs replacing. Serious amount of soot on it.
Change it, see if your problem with the trip switch improves and then take it from there. Only way you are going to know what condition the rest are in is by inspecting them.
You very well may end up having to change them all.

Alun

Thanks. Don't worry, I've already replaced that one, I wasn't going to put it back in that state! That sooty dust also had some metallic particles in it, and when I first opened it up there was a distinct track of it between live and earth on the right most socket, so I suspect that was maybe what was causing the trip.

The house was built in the mid 90's and I've heard stories of builders in that era cutting costs on stuff like electrical and plumbing by using inferior materials. It's a bungalow, and in the attic, for example, the wiring goes diagonally all over the place as if they wanted to save every last possible cm of cable, so it wouldn't surprise me if the sockets were cheap no-name ones too to save more.

Sleeper12

Alun wrote:

The house was built in the mid 90's and I've heard stories of builders in that era cutting costs on stuff like electrical and plumbing by using inferior materials. It's a bungalow, and in the attic, for example, the wiring goes diagonally all over the place as if they wanted to save every last possible cm of cable, so it wouldn't surprise me if the sockets were cheap no-name ones too to save more.

They were much better than the rubbish thrown up from 2000 onwards. The better built houses were built in the 50s and 60s. I'd have one over anything modern any day of the week.

tedimc

Agree that you need to replace the socket, but would the cause not have been more likely to be either bad/loose connections or something wrong on the appliance side that was often plugged into it?

Same happened in my in-laws where a socket in the kitchen went all scorched around the live pin. After a while it actually just broker the whole corner off the faceplate.

I was blaming either a loose connection or plugging something in powered up and with the switch on, so that the power arcs when the pin is being inserted. House is early 70s but kitchen was replaced in the late 90s/early 2000s also.

Alun

Possibly, but I would have expected to have seen some scorching / marking on the pins of the plug as well if that was the case and this was clean.

Alun

One small question if I may?

The new sockets I have (hager sollysta) have two (connected) earth terminals, whereas the old ones only had one. Now, in all the sockets I've looked at so far, the two earth wires are twisted together.

So, what is best practice in this situation? Should I leave them as is and use just one of the earth terminals or untwist them and use both?

Calahonda52

Alun wrote: »

One small question if I may?

The new sockets I have (hager sollysta) have two (connected) earth terminals, whereas the old ones only had one. Now, in all the sockets I've looked at so far, the two earth wires are twisted together.

So, what is best practice in this situation? Should I leave them as is and use just one of the earth terminals or untwist them and use both?

Am not a sparks, as you know! but usually I see the two used if the back box is metal which need to be earthed.
You may find it easier, especially with PVC PVC T&E with the single strand earth to keep them together and just one sleeving required.

Alun

The back boxes are plastic in this case. The two earths are separately sleeved, it's just the short bit of exposed wire that's twisted. I'm assuming it's an attempt to keep earth continuity for "down stream" sockets if the wire somehow worked loose in the terminal.

Bruthal

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Am not a sparks, as you know! but usually I see the two used if the back box is metal which need to be earthed.
You may find it easier, especially with PVC PVC T&E with the single strand earth to keep them together and just one sleeving required.

2 earth's into one sleeve I never liked. Even worse when both twisted along full length so both twin and earth's are held together by the twisted earths. Terrible if have to separate the cables at some stage.

Much better to separately sleeve. I fold both over and then into same terminal.