Melted wall socket

papillon09

Hey guys,

I live in Tampa, and I have a 1300 Watt power supply on my pc. I keep it open all the time, and when I woke up this morning, I heard weird sounds coming from the breaker box also burned smell. Shut it down immediately and called the leasing office. Maintenance guy told me that the reason for that is the old breaker. He changed it to 20 amp one. 

After some research, I found few posts which are saying changing the breaker 15 amp to 20 is a huge mistake. Also, I realized power strip was loose; wall socket doesn't hold it tightly. I checked the wall socket, and it was little melted, plastic was too hot. There is nothing plugged in that room other than my pc, a lamb, and a Verizon box.  

What should I do to solve this problem? I want to keep it open but same time don't want to burn my house or harm my neighbors. Thanks.

aido79

papillon09 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I live in Tampa, and I have a 1300 Watt power supply on my pc. I keep it open all the time, and when I woke up this morning, I heard weird sounds coming from the breaker box also burned smell. Shut it down immediately and called the leasing office. Maintenance guy told me that the reason for that is the old breaker. He changed it to 20 amp one. 

After some research, I found few posts which are saying changing the breaker 15 amp to 20 is a huge mistake. Also, I realized power strip was loose; wall socket doesn't hold it tightly. I checked the wall socket, and it was little melted, plastic was too hot. There is nothing plugged in that room other than my pc, a lamb, and a Verizon box.  

What should I do to solve this problem? I want to keep it open but same time don't want to burn my house or harm my neighbors. Thanks.

I'm not sure what size cabling has been used but in Ireland it would be normal practice to use 2.5mm cable and a 20 amp breaker for sockets.

Can you explain what you mean by "power strip was loose"?

On a 110 supply a 1300w power supply would draw just under 12amps. If the socket is only rated for 10 amps then that would be the reason for it getting hot.

tedpan

aido79 wrote:

Can you explain what you mean by "power strip was loose"?

He's talking about an extension cable that wasn't plugged into the wall socket correctly. Not sure if that explains the situation

Cerco

I would recommend you have the socket changed as it seems to me it is damaged. Make sure the plug then fits in tightly.
If the plug is loose it will cause.heating at the contacts.
I assume the maintenance guy knew what he was doing replacing the breaker.

papillon09

Thank you for your answer aido79 and sorry for the vague language.  I have a surge protector power strip. PC monitor, electricity usage monitor, and the power supply connected to the power strip and power strip attached to the wall socket. There is a little gap between the wall socket and power strip plug. It is loose and not standing straight when I plugged into the wall socket.

I feel so anxious when I am not home. What should I do to fix it? Is it okay to use another wall socket in the same room? After 10 minutes of usage, I unplugged and touched the wall socket to feel that is it hot or not. It was so hot. Is it okay for the wall socket plastic part to get hot and use it like that?

Thank you, Cerco. I will buy a longer power strip and try with a different socket.

tedpan

papillon09 wrote:

Thank you for your answer aido79 and sorry for the vague language. I have a surge protector power strip. PC monitor, electricity usage monitor, and the power supply connected to the power strip and power strip attached to the wall socket. There is a little gap between the wall socket and power strip plug. It is loose and not standing straight when I plugged into the wall socket.

Can you post a picture please?

papillon09

I realized something wrong is going on very quickly and unplugged it. That is why did not burn completely I think. I just want to be comfortable and be sure that I take every precaution I have to. Do I have to call an electricity guy or my landlord? Or is it a just simple mistake because extension cord did not plug in properly. I just want to be sure before some smoke comes out and call the fireman. What should I do? I bought a better quality extension cable and going to try tonight.

Thanks for all the answers.

tedpan

papillon09 wrote:

I realized something wrong is going on very quickly and unplugged it. That is why did not burn completely I think. I just want to be comfortable and be sure that I take every precaution I have to. Do I have to call an electricity guy or my landlord? Or is it a just simple mistake because extension cord did not plug in properly. I just want to be sure before some smoke comes out and call the fireman. What should I do? I bought a better quality extension cable and going to try tonight.

What? You're suddenly calling it an extension cord? Can you post a picture please?

papillon09

I uploaded pictures on a free image hosting site and tried to share thousand times but every time I got an error saying try again later.

tedpan

papillon09 wrote:

I uploaded pictures on a free image hosting site and tried to share thousand times but every time I got an error saying try again later.

You can upload it directly to boards. Just not through the mobile app. Click attach when posting. You can do it on a from a pc or through your browser on a mobile device.

papillon09

The problem is,
You cannot post with images, URLs or attachments because you are a new user.

ED E

Are you bitcoin mining?

If not, chances are you're not pulling 1300W. Not by a long shot. That means we're talking more like 700-800W so 6-7A from the wall. If you're getting hot there somethings up.

shaunr68

ED E wrote: »

Are you bitcoin mining?

I think he is, if I remember correctly the OP originally described it as a mining rig but that bit has now been edited out for some reason.

papillon09

Not bitcoin, just some altcoins. I edited because I did not want to make it complicated.

I have four gtx 1070 Hybrid Gaming and one 1080ti Hydro Copper. Specs on manufacturers website are,

For gtx 1070, Total Power Draw: 170 Watts
For 1080ti, Total Power Draw: 250 Watts
In addition to four fans of 1070, I have a pump and two fans. Additional fans are 120mm.
Wireless adapter and wireless keyboard plugged on the motherboard.
Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-H110-D3A.

I guess it is consuming around 1100 watt but still I am not sure that it is okay or not.

ED E

From the OP via PM.

ED E

Have you not measured draw at the wall? Thats what the meter is for......

That socket type is rated 15 A at 125 volts. Far more than you should be drawing. Even at 1400W you're below 15A.



At a guess your extension lead is a crappy 2$ walmart one that isnt nearly capable of 10-12A and its pins are overheating.

Put the desktop PSU into the wall directly, everything else on the extension lead. Be grand.

papillon09

I checked the values on the meter. Values changing between 100 to 105 kWh. I wanted to buy a decent extension but always postponed. Such a dumb move.

Thank you very much for your help ED E and everyone.

I checked the values again tonight with a decent extension. Hope these values are fine.

118.4 - 118.7 volt
7.91 Amp
930 Watt

2011

@ papillon09, the advice you have been given is very good. I would just add that you should replace the plug that was used with the troublesome socket. If a socket is damaged by heat the plug associated with it is most likely damaged too.