Why my extension socket outlet was blown out and the circuit breaker tripped off?
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My colleague raised this question to me last week. She said, “I connect all electric kettle, rice cooker and washing machine together. The power was off immediately when I switched on the electric appliances.” She continued, “A burnt smell and brown mark could be seen on the extension socket.” Luckily, the electric appliance was not damaged and no injured to people. However, she got to buy new extension cable.
Does above problem sound familiar to you? This symptom is called OVERLOAD in electric circuit.
Secret of OVERLOAD revealed here.
Each circuit has the maximum capacity of the current carrying to the electric appliance. In simple word, too many electrical appliances connected to a socket outlet will cause this overload problem.
Perhaps you will trip and black out your house and can be reset. If it doesn’t trip and overloading prolongs unknowingly, the insulation of cables will deteriorate and conductors produce losses in heat. It may cause fire too. This considers unsafe act and energy waste.
In my opinion, the electric appliance can be classified to Heavy Load and Light Load.
For examples:
1) Heavy Load
Air conditioning, water heater, electric stove, discharged lamp, washine machine, refrigerator, monitor, television, high power amplier.
2) Light Load
Fluorescent lamp, bulb, table fan, computer, radio, dvd\ vcd\ cd player, handphone charger.
Solution to avoid OVERLOAD
1) Always apply one electric appliance to one socket outlet if possible. However, 3 nos of light load can be add up to one socket outlet.
2) Take advice from competent electrician if you wish to extend more appliances. Perhaps, this requires additional consumer distribution board for long term usage.
3) For temporary usage, I also recommend you to check the loading calculation with electrician.
In conclusion, we shall always consider minimum loading of each socket outlet for safety purpose and fully occupied energy and material usage.
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