Elec. socket VERY hot to the touch

[Barchettaman]

Just noticed this evening: the socket is extraordinarily hot and nothing is plugged in.

The plastic is starting to discolour.

I measured the surface temperature with my barbecue laser thermometer and it came in at approximately 90 degrees Celsius on the screws.

All rather worrying.

I have shut off the circuit breaker to the socket, apart from calling an electrician tomorrow, anything else I should be doing?

I’m quite keen on the house not burning down etc etc.

[fiatpower]

Have you checked every other socket in the house just in case?

[Barchettaman]

fiatpower said:

Have you checked every other socket in the house just in case?

No.

[Barchettaman]

We have now, none of the others are hot to the touch.

Electrician will be called first thing tomorrow.

[Jakg]

If it's hot to the touch with nothing plugged in, turn the circuit off, now. Before it catches fire overnight.

It's probably a poor connection and whatever load is on the rest of the circuit is causing heat instead.

[littleredrooster]

If you’re absolutely certain that the power is off, pop the faceplate off and make sure all the cable clamp screws are tight. Sounds like a poor connection somewhere.

[essayer]

Do you have a large power device plugged in on the same ring? Electric fire, EV charger, tumble dryer etc

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

You did the right thing knocking off the CB. Nice one.
Did it cool down?
If yes, all good. You and your family can sleep easy.
Call the sparks anyway if you're even remotely unsure. He's qualified and insured to sort it, you're not. Don't f**k around taking stuff apart yourself unless you're absolutely certain what you're looking for.
(#1 cause of house fires).

[119]

90c on the screws?

Gotta see a pic of that!

[Richard-D]

Good spot, that could easily have been a fire. How did you notice it?

It could be a short between live and neutral (not a good short or the breaker would go) or to neutral if not RCD protected. I believe it could be just a loose clamp if someone has taken a spur from the socket and there is a downstream load.

I presume it's cooled with the breaker off?

[Barchettaman]

Cooled straight off with the breaker off.

My wife spotted it; the only thing that had been plugged into it was a table lamp with a dimmer switch. The socket is in the hallway.

The circuit is back on now (briefly) so the kids don’t have to eat breakfast in the the dark.

Edit: circuit is now off, it’s got hot instantly, fk that. The kid is eating weetabix with a head torch on.

Edited by Barchettaman on Monday 16th December 06:24

[Barchettaman]

essayer said:

Do you have a large power device plugged in on the same ring? Electric fire, EV charger, tumble dryer etc

Yes, the EV charges on the same ring I think, but not the same socket.

We charge it overnight using a slow portable charger.

[Mr Magooagain]

Barchettaman said:

Cooled straight off with the breaker off.

My wife spotted it; the only thing that had been plugged into it was a table lamp with a dimmer switch. The socket is in the hallway.

The circuit is back on now (briefly) so the kids don’t have to eat breakfast in the the dark.

The socket shouldn’t be on the lighting circuit!

[Barchettaman]

Mr Magooagain said:

The socket shouldn’t be on the lighting circuit!

So the affected circuit has all ground floor lights and some of the sockets, the oven and dishwasher sockets are on a separate circuit.

We are in Germany, perhaps we do things differently here.

[Steve H]

littleredrooster said:

If you’re absolutely certain that the power is off, pop the faceplate off and make sure all the cable clamp screws are tight. Sounds like a poor connection somewhere.

This would be well worth a check before calling a sparky.

[Barchettaman]

I’ve taken the socket out.

Holy Christ.

We got there just in time. Most of the insulation has melted off.

No idea why it didn’t trip the circuit breaker.

[Steve H]

The breaker will have a rating, creating that much heat doesn’t hit the rating. Imagine the amount of current it would take to routinely run a fan heater or hair dryer through that plug and you’ll get the idea.


It doesn’t look obvious there if one connection saw the worst of the heat which is surprising.

[Steve H]

I would consider just cutting the cables back by an inch or so and replacing the plug. Then power the circuit with the new plug loose and see if you get any hot spots.


*this is probably not an approved method and needs the application of common sense while the socket is loose*

[Jeremy-75qq8]

As someone said above there will be a spur connected to it and the connections in the socket will have been loose.

Replace socket and do it up tight ( with clean wires ) and it will be fine.

I would also spend an afternoon checking the rest and tightening them up.

[essayer]

I assume in Germany it’ll be a radial circuit, so all connections ‘upstream’ of the EV charger will have to safely carry 10A
One loose screw and it’ll overheat

For peace of mind I’d be fitting a new 16A radial to an outdoor charger socket, or 32A to full Type 2 charger