26 AMPS FOR A STANDARD TWIN 3 PIN SOCKET?

You dropped a clanger there Phil you should of used trebles you would of got 50% more in and there is plenty of room for a spurred quad socket next to it

 

So why is a double socket rated and stamped 13A ?

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

So you can never sue them

 

I look as some of the facts.
1) The ring final and 13A socket was designed at the end of second world war to allow the use of electric heating in the house. So it was designed to take full 13A per socket.
2) Plug design has changed and the pins now have a reduction in size to allow insulation so are less able to transmit heat from plug into the socket.
3) Most damaged sockets I have seen are damaged by the plug rather than a failure within the socket except of switched sockets and other specials.
4) MK do state their standard twin socket is able to deliver 13 amp per outlet.
5) The general spec for socket only requires the socket to carry 20 amp but this is a minimum not maximum.
6) 2.5mm twin and earth installation method 101 thermal plastic is only rated at 20A.
7) Any non portable equipment should have a dedicated supply over 2kW so Washing machines, Ovens, Tumble driers, dish washers and immersion heaters should not be plugged into the ring final.
8) Any fuse must generate heat so all sockets should be installed where there is cooling air.
9) Most fires with sockets and plugs are caused by bad connections rather than a fault with the device.
10) Sockets which have had abuse be it hanging weight off the socket or pulling in non BS1363 devices like plastic blanks are more likely to fail.

In the real world even the tumble drier only runs for 90 minutes and it is unlikely to cause a problem only the immersion heater runs for long enough to cause a problem with the heat build up from the fuse. Most rooms would be way too hot is a 3kW room heater was left plugged in for over an hour only storage heaters really run long enough and they are fixed so come under the 2kW and dedicated circuit rule. About the only device which could over load is a patio heater again these exceed the weight limit to be classed portable so should have a dedicated supply.

So all in all standard domestic following the general rules you will never exceed the socket rating. Only with commercial does one see the over load what causes problems.

With the picture shown with adaptor into adaptor it's not the load which is the problem it's the weight hanging off the socket. It is a problem as once abused the damage is done but can't be seen. Tell a client all those sockets need replacing as they have had non BS 1363 plastic lumps plugged into them which may have strained the socket and see the reaction. You get "These child guards are designed to go into sockets" you answer is show me where it says BS 1363 and I will agree other wise it should not be ever plugged into a socket the same applies to matchsticks and wires. Point them to fatally flawed web site and you may get them to bin the silly things but as to changing all the sockets no way.

So even when we see a failed socket we don't know what abuse it has been subjected to in the past.

 

@MGW
Point 7. Agreed. However the issue lies with the manufacturer. The manufacturer supplies the machine with a plug then it will be plugged in to the nearest available socket, irrespective of whether it is a double or a single. In reality problems do not arise. It has been the practice for years. Kitchen fitters are always plugging in single ovens. Single ovens are rated at more than 2kW and so should be on their own dedicated circuit. The kitchen fitters stance is if it is supplied with a plug then it can go in any socket. Same logic as everyone else. So who is to blame?

 

Of course, you should also say that back then, only single sockets were available. Double sockets were a luxury, and many years later.

 

Yes according to my dad pre-war my grandfathers house had 2 x 15A sockets most items like smoothing irons would be plugged into the lights. But immediately post war 1954 his house had 5 x 13A sockets far better. I would seem price was a major issue any house over a set price had a very heavy tax so with a three bedroom house it was a case if you had wood block floors you had to have less sockets to get under the price when the tax kicked in. Today you can ask the builder for 5 extra sockets without a problem but then those 5 extra sockets would have been extremely expensive as it would have resulted in whole house being taxed.

 

I rewired a two-up two-down house a not long ago with only lighting upstairs, no sockets. And all the lighting points were in the corner of the rooms where the gas mantles used to be. Tin bath in the bathroom, and a cooker (gas) downstairs that harked from the 1940s or 1950s. I kid you not. I deeply wish I'd met the previous owner... I only encountered the house when it was sold after her passing.

 

So did you just rewire the upstairs lights then. That was an easy one.

 

There was also the Wylex socket range. For those that haven't seen them it was a centre round pin with 2 flat pins either side.The wall sockets were rated at 3kW and the plugs stacked, so a 5 ampplug would plug into a 5/15 amp plug in the wall socket.

http://www.fam-oud.nl/~plugsocket/Wylex1.html

Kind regards

 

It still surprises me the number of houses I come across with one socket per room - the single socket usually upgraded to a double socket.

And on revisiting houses I've wired with requests of 5 or 6 double sockets per room, the number of unused sockets...