Is it supposed to use a 15amp socket?
The plug for the box aircon I have in the shed (and am flogging to the max at the moment) gets ridiculously hot I just noticed....
What's going on there?
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Accident free since yesterday
Is it supposed to use a 15amp socket?
If a plug is getting hot it indicates "excessive" resistance where the spring metal in the socket contacts the solid metal of one or both "pins" of the plug. (Either that or a loose screw connection within the plug.)
If the spring metal of the socket gets hot it is likely to weaken the spring tension and the situation will get worse.
Check any screw connection within the plug but, if the heating is as "ridiculous" as you say, I strongly suggest that you have the socket replaced - and it would probably be a good idea to replace the plug as well.
Yeh....it's a sealed plug so can't get in to it.....
Will try it with a different socket.
I've used it a fair bit in the past but today was the first time I noticed it getting hot.
It was over 40degrees in the shed though and I was cranking it hard.
Accident free since yesterday
Over 20 years ago I remember that there was a "recall" on certain molded plugs on some leads due to poor electrical connections within the plug causing just this problem.
I cannot now remember the brand, and it is unlikely that a molded plug would have excessive internal resistance, but it is NOT impossible.
Also, if the plug has been heated it may have suffered damage.
Does the plastic in which the pins are embedded appear to have been affected by the heating?
Not a good day to be working that's for sure. Heard sparkys on the radio earlier. So hot in roof space gloves needed to touch the trusses, iphones shutting down, 10 mins max before bailing out of the roof
Yeh bugger being a sparky or plumber!
Or aircon installer for that matter.
Accident free since yesterday
Get an electrician.
No electricians in Mackay, they have all gone fishing.
I had this happening to me with a powerpoint for the dishwasher and I found it full with sugar ants. Something about the current attracts them and then they die and more come and die until the contacts are worthless.
Or ...
your window aircon is on the way out ... or ... there may be a problem with your wiring so changing the plug and the powerpoint will not fix it ...
I think you need to call a sparky mate.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
Well, it's never done it before (I was running it yesterday)
Using the same socket
Nothing's changed.
I asked here because maybe there would be something simple I could try first.
Or something like it's working overtime because it's so hot and I had it on 18 degrees and full fan.
Anyway will try it with in the 15A socket tomorrow and see how that goes.
Accident free since yesterday
Nothing strange here
The socket is a cut 10A extension lead wired in to the box in the shed.
Never had any problems with it before.
Use that lead all the time for grinders etc.
Accident free since yesterday
Those stock lead are 1.5mm if you are lucky. I wouldn't run an aircon full blast on it the best of days.
If you can plug it in a different powerpoint, and still heats up, then it is the lead, but you need to reproduce the same conditions, heat, full blast etc.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
In the past if a plug to got hot there was a serious problem, now with cutting corners in manufacturing this cannot be relied on. Plugging it into a 15 A outlet will only prove weather the plug top is faulty as the internals in a 15 A GPO is the same as a 10 A one.
Tomorrow you could try running it for an hour flat out and pull the plug out and feel the pins for heat and see if one is hotter than the other as they should be the same temp. If one is hotter than the other there is a loose connection in the plug top.
Let us know the result and your friendly forum electricians and others will give you a tele medicine consultation and reccommend some medicine.
If you do that you are changing 2 variables and will never know what was wrong with it. Change one at the time. Plug in a different powerpoint first, if nothing happens, you need to check the powerpoint or the wiring of the shed. if still gets hot in the other socket, then change the lead with more generous wire size. if nothing helps, take your aircon to the scrap yard and change it for a bath
PS
HA ha google doctor never fails ... until it does![]()
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
Was the lead hot as well PG or just the plug ?
The cooler change is coming too. Hopefully an end to the ball swelling heat![]()
So typical of you Bros.
first you say
Followed by
You KNOW I'm not gonna get some random bloke come around and charge me $90/h plus a "call-out-fee" (don't get me started on that) to look at a $50 second hand aircon with a plug getting hot in my shed....which was mostly wired up by a licensed(-ish) electrician over a couple of beers.
Just spill the beans straight away and everything is a lot easier.
I'm not gonna sue anyone on this forum for telling me to do something "I shouldn't" as I'm "not qualified".
Just trying to narrow it down to being faulty supply, connections, appliance or due to the heat (which has been in the extreme zone the past few days) and if I can do something about it.
The more info, the easier it is to troubleshoot and I might even learn something along the way.
Not interested in fingerwagging and handwringing.
I'm gonna do it anyway. (Whatever "it" may be)
I always have and always will.
Accident free since yesterday
Another thing you can do is sand the pins for better connection ... neee just pulling your leg
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
is that along the lines of jumping on the fuel bowser hose to get free fuel and wearing pantyhose on your head to make a black n white TV appear as a colour TV?
because I tried both of them and neither worked....
I got arrested trying the first one and almost suffocated trying the second one
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Accident free since yesterday
Well ... may be not that far out, but those pins look clean. I you have a serious short and the pins are fused and black, then a bit of sanding would certainly help if you are in the bush and the nearest supplier is 4 hours away. Been there done that.
Panyhose on the head ... mm ... should try that. only problem is finding a black and white tv ... what colour pantyhose?
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
After a second look at your pins, the live pin looks a bit off.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
I thought Bros was actually helping you.
Feel the pins for heat.
Don't run it on an extension cord, if only the plug gets hot when direct connected to a power point then suspect the internal pin connectivity to the power lead. You can then cut the moulded one off and wire up a new 3 pin plug. A 15A power outlet is really not doing anything different to the regular 10A outlet, assuming they are good outlets.
Since you mentioned sorta-ish sparky, I would check that you have adequate cable size supplying the shed and then check for voltage drop at the socket, just to cover all bases.
But I'd be tempted to point my finger at that dinky little lead, as some of the plugs these days aren't worth the fake certifications they print on the box!
DIY electrical house wiring details suitable for Australia - http://goo.gl/9d33T (PDF file)
Ohyouhadtosaythatdidn'tyou ... Live pin because it connects to the live wire that so happens to be the line also known as the other one that is not dead or neutral. comeoooooon
For PG only.
How to know which one is (or should be)the LIVE wire in a powerpoint and you don't have a test pen that goes buzzzz.
Stand in front of the powerpoint and look square at it.
Do not blink.
Pretend the two top holes are hands and you want to shake his right hand with ... well your right hand.
That is the LIVE wire. (so don't shake his hand)
Easy see?
Now for the plug there is another mnemonic but I have forgotten it.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
First thing I'd do is give the pins a thorough cleaning to remove tarnish and whatever else may be on them.
See if that fixes the problem before trying anything else.
Hei I said that first ...![]()
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
Posted by John2b, And no, BEVs are not going to save the planet, which doesn't need saving anyway.
As Random mentioned, check for voltage drop too. The lower the voltage sags the higher the current will be.
Accident free since yesterday
I hope you don't think in cooling it with a water drip ...![]()
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
*sigh*
Just spell it out for me.
Can't be bothered with innuendos right now
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Accident free since yesterday
It's ok PG, I don't get it either. Maybe the heat has mushed our noggins![]()
Look, Bedford suggested at #34 using duct to cool the plug and PG responded to Bedford at#35 that was what he was up to. At #38 Marc said that was a terrible idea and used an apt analogy of why that was so. You see, it's not a good idea to cool the hot plug as a solution...it's like using a bigger tyre to solve broken suspension arghhh!![]()
...but if you have bigger wheels lying around...
(sorry)
It goes like this:
Plug gets very hot.
Solutions:
Change the plug for a bigger one, 32 amp would do just fine.
Change the cord for a bigger one, 6mm just about right.
Rewire the shed.
Change the power point and kill the ants inside it, not necessarily in that order.
Refrigerate the plug by ducting some of the air and pointing it to the offending plug.
Silicone the plug to the power point to make it waterproof and direct a drip of water on top of the plug for said refrigeration purposes. Place a flowerpot (with a flower in) it to recover the warm water.
Attach larger diameter wheel on the side of the broken suspension bring the car back to level ... oops no that is another problem. Disregard ...
Grab large hammer (5k) and apply a series of measured blows to offending aircon then replace.
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Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca
Stop that, Phil you'll get a headache.
If you read the posts again you'll notice that I only quoted PART of Bedford's post, the part relating to ducting.
The pics in the same post would indicate that I wasn't at all trying to cool the plug.
Nor did I say that I was.
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Accident free since yesterday