Burning on plug of electric radiator when plugged into timer socket

Cianos

Hi there,
Had an electric radiator that plugged into a timer socket (€5, bought in Power City) and we noticed burning around the plug and the socket.

Picture gallery can be seen here; https://imgur.com/a/bWhZLm5

Wondering what could have caused this? Obviously don't want it to happen again.

Would it be a fault with the timer socket, or the plug/radiator?

Thanks for reading

2011

Cianos wrote: »

Hi there,
Had an electric radiator

= Relatively large electrical load.

plugged into a timer socket (€5, bought in Power City)

= cheap and of questionable quality

The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t supply electrical loads of thy size from a device of that quality. Luckily you caught this in time.

Cianos

The timer said 3500w capacity and the heater is 2000w.

I thought a fiver was a bit cheap alright but assumed it'd not be a fire hazard when used within its advertised limitations and sold by a big outfit like Powercity (as opposed to buying it off a dodgy website or whatever).

Is it really just down to the timer plug being cheap tat?

brightspark

Can't be certain but it looks like there was more heat in the plugtop. I've seen some plugtops where the fuse was loose in the clip.

Check for damage where the heater was previously plugged in.

monseiur

A simple process of elimination is -
1. Fit new plug on heater, then plug directly into socket (not the socket used previously) after say an hour check plug if OK..........go to step 2
2. Using the same socket - plug heater this time using timer after some time check both plug & timer if everything is OK repeat steps one and two above using the original socket.
Do not leave heater unattended while carrying out the above in case of fire etc.
M.

brightspark

To be clear, regardless of what was the initial problem both plug and timer are now unsafe to use.