The iron tripped the RCD this morning . . . . . .

[TheSalad]

I had ironed a shirt for work this morning and went to unplug the iron when there was a flash at the socket and the house fuse box tripped.

I assumed it would be the fuse (in the iron) but on further investigation I can find no problem, the iron appears to be working just fine.

It scared the living daylights out of me but I can't work out what the issue is.

Any thoughts? Do I need to be concerned?

 

[JohnD]

on an iron, it's usually the flex worn through where it attaches to the iron. Inspect it carefully and you may find a burn mark.

unless it is a cheap iron, it is worth fitting a new (longer) flex if you are competent to do it.

sometimes it is water getting onto the electrical contacts

 

[TheSalad]

Nope, flex appears to be in order. The flash was at the plug just as I was taking it out of the socket. Both socket and plug (the iron) appear to be working fine now.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Buy a new iron.

Or put it on your christmas list.

Andy

 

[bernardgreen]

Were you pulling the plug out of the socket and could the flash have been behind the socket. If yes then there may be a problem with the wires in the back of the socket.

Even more lilkely to be that if the socket is not firmly fixed.

 

[TheSalad]

The iron was not plugged in to a socket at the wall but an extension thingy with four sockets on it.

 

[bhm1712]

Because irons are normally turned on (ive yet to find an iron with an actual on/off switch - just the dial control for temperature) when they are plugged in and unplugged they are drawing current and so you are actually pulling the plug out under load. It will spark occasionally. If you look at a light switch in the dark when you turn it on you can sometimes see an arc....

I would just buy a new iron, and extension lead. The extension leads of today are of terrible quality and i use them less and less.

 

[Astra99]

As the iron was plugged into a four-way trailing socket, I would suggest that the trailer may have overheated due to the heavy load of the iron (usually around 2.2kW (almost 10 amps) on one socket. Unfortunately, many of these trailers are "not the best quality" and under heavy load they do fail prematurely. IMHO they are designed for low current items like wall-warts, PCs, table lamps and the like. As an aside, I have noticed that the trailers B&Q were selling in the Christmas lights area were advertised as 10A rating! This must tell you something.

 

[bhm1712]

if you actually strip one down its not hard to tell why they fail easily....same with those 1 gang to 2 gang socket converters and the larger 2 gang to 3 gang and more.....terrible quality

 

[Iggifer]

The extension leads of today are of terrible quality and i use them less and less.

Totally agree, on the odd occasion I need to use one, I just make a temp one out of a couple of spare 2 gang MK metal clad sockets and cut a length of YY to the length I need.

Doesn't look great but tbh I prefer the look to the look of a cheap + nasty white extension lead of unknown origin.

 

[stillp]

Have a look at this:
http://www.esc.org.uk/fileadmin/use...product_safety/Extension-lead-test-report.pdf