Extension Lead Recommendations

[Digger]

Evening All.

Troubleshooting leccy gremlins whereby 3 tenants' rooms including mine will seemingly randomly trip a fuse labelled "Wall Sockets"

Please now kindly ignore the above!!

Troubleshooting & a process of elimination from my end so will replace my pair of ageing four gang extension leads with half-decent surge-protected extension leads.


Pro Elec from Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CFX797H6

Are there better options?

I'm aware that they are built to a specification & meet certain standards but if there is something better for not much outlay then happy to hear your suggestions

Edited by Digger on Monday 28th April 22:20

[Panamax]

Digger said:

Troubleshooting leccy gremlins whereby 3 tenants' rooms including mine will seemingly randomly trip a fuse labelled "Wall Sockets"

Do you mean fuse or do you mean circuit breaker? If it's a circuit breaker, how old is it?

I'm not an electrician but if it's tripping a mini-breaker rather then the big one it sounds like an overload to me. What have you people got plugged into all those extension leads?

Beyond that,
If you are the tenants, get a formal complaint made to the landlord asap.
If you are the landlord, get a professional electrician in asap.

[Digger]

Yes it is more than likely an overload & I currently do not know the rating on the breaker (yes not fuse my bad) . . . complicated by the fact that this fusebox currently resides in one of these other tenant's rooms!

The Landlady has a plan to rewire all the electrics in the property so that each tenant has their own fusebox in their room.

I am well aware of the myriad of possibilities leading to a tripping breaker. . .


Extension lead suggestions ONLY please

Edited by Digger on Monday 28th April 22:20

[DorsetSparky]

Digger said:

I am well aware of the myriad of possibilities leading to a tripping breaker. . .


Extension lead suggestions ONLY please

These two sentences sort of cancel each other out. If you know of the myriad of possibilities leading to a tripping breaker then replacing the extension lead seems odd.

Buy any old extension lead and see if it's solved the problem. You won't find that one brand suddenly makes the breaker work fine.

[darreni]

Are any of the tennents using cooking equipment in their rooms, microwaves, air fryers, stand alone hobs?

[Digger]

DorsetSparky said:

Digger said:

I am well aware of the myriad of possibilities leading to a tripping breaker. . .


Extension lead suggestions ONLY please

These two sentences sort of cancel each other out. If you know of the myriad of possibilities leading to a tripping breaker then replacing the extension lead seems odd.

Buy any old extension lead and see if it's solved the problem. You won't find that one brand suddenly makes the breaker work fine.

Agreed, but If I replace my extension leads then that potentially rules out a dodgy extension lead in MY room.

I am not looking to fix the issue myself, more I'm helping to troubleshoot & eliminate potential causes of the tripping breaker for now.

[Digger]

darreni said:

Are any of the tennents using cooking equipment in their rooms, microwaves, air fryers, stand alone hobs?

I do & have no issue using a kettle, m/w oven combi, & a single induction hob . . . but. . . . these are on a different circuit so not relevant.

One of the tenants may have cooking equipment but unsure. There may be a fridge in the circuit but also unsure.

I'm tempted to suggest the landlady asks the electrician to up the breaker spec by 1kw thereabouts . . . but then we risk the property burning down

[darreni]

I asked as a former business partner owned a house of multiple occupation (HMO) and he was forever being called out as the electric had gone off.

And despite being told, most occupants ran fridges& freezers, worktop single hobs daisy chained together and in the days before air fryers, the biggest George Foreman grill they could buy.

These would often be connected to the cheapest extension lead possible and appliances running simultaneously.

It was mostly Eastern European trades working away from home & wanting to save as much money as possible.

The fire safety inspector and warnings put a stop to it in the end and he sold the place.

[DorsetSparky]

Digger said:

I do & have no issue using a kettle, m/w oven combi, & a single induction hob . . . but. . . . these are on a different circuit so not relevant.

One of the tenants may have cooking equipment but unsure. There may be a fridge in the circuit but also unsure.

I'm tempted to suggest the landlady asks the electrician to up the breaker spec by 1kw thereabouts . . . but then we risk the property burning down

What about the cable run? Cable type? There's dozens of issues to consider here, you can't just 'up the breaker spec' without quite a lot of involved calculations and assessment!

My opinion is you're already too involved. Report the issue to the landlady and get her to sort it. You're not an electrician and neither is she!

[Digger]

DorsetSparky said:

Digger said:

I do & have no issue using a kettle, m/w oven combi, & a single induction hob . . . but. . . . these are on a different circuit so not relevant.

One of the tenants may have cooking equipment but unsure. There may be a fridge in the circuit but also unsure.

I'm tempted to suggest the landlady asks the electrician to up the breaker spec by 1kw thereabouts . . . but then we risk the property burning down

What about the cable run? Cable type? There's dozens of issues to consider here, you can't just 'up the breaker spec' without quite a lot of involved calculations and assessment!

My opinion is you're already too involved. Report the issue to the landlady and get her to sort it. You're not an electrician and neither is she!

My Breaker suggestion was purely tongue-in-cheek - I'd hoped you'd realise that!

I'm not involved at all . . . I've had no further discussion with the landlady in months!

ALL the rooms will eventually be rewired with their own fuse boxes.

The landlady has said that my room & my neighbour's room will be re-wired at the same time what with the offending fuse box being in her room.
This rewire will involve a complete refurbishment of the rooms (floorboards up, everything!)
Both of us have lived here for nearly 10 years & we both have a lot of stuff to move out & move back in let alone the hassle of storage & associated costs etc.

If by a miracle, swapping out a potentially wonky extension lead or pair of, for the princely sum of around £20 resolves the tripping & delays the refurbishment plans then I am all for it.

I am under no illusion it will fix it - I'll give it a 1 in 100 chance . . . but if it were to prevent or delay both of us having to move everything out, sort storage etc, wait up to 2 weeks for the refurb & then move back in . . . neither of us are young or in the best of health, so it would be a complete ballache tbh