Overloaded wall socket?

Varkov

I'm in a box room currently, with only the one wall socket.

With the large amount of electronic equipment I'm beginning to worry about overloading the socket. At the moment I find myself unplugging different things depending on what Im using. I'll definatly be getting a surge protector at some stage, but could anyone have a look at the attached diagram and make a guesstimation?

Thanks in advance.

km991148

Varkov wrote: »

I'm in a box room currently, with only the one wall socket.

With the large amount of electronic equipment I'm beginning to worry about overloading the socket. At the moment I find myself unplugging different things depending on what Im using. I'll definatly be getting a surge protector at some stage, but could anyone have a look at the attached diagram and make a guesstimation?

Thanks in advance.

lol thats a few items alright!

I think its down to two things mainly (but I am by no means an Electrician so no waranties with the advice!)

1. as with all set ups like this (as opposed to hlf the stuff connected to two sockets) there is only one connection to the main ring, where as with sockets they are connected in a ring cable with much higher quality/capacity cable, thus supporting a higher current by balancing the load - note DO NOT try to connect to two differnet sockects lol

2. The quality of the cable may not be sufficient to carry the amount of current (esp when running hight power devices like a fan, monitors, tv etc). I.e a 4 way adaptor cable has cable to support 4 devices (not 8-10). This means that cables can run hot and have the potential to cause a fire - check now, are any of the cables close to the sockect warm? Therefore a surge protector will not do anything for you (as its not surges you need to protect from, but with high end equipment one would be recommended). Therefore I would get an Electrician to run a proper spur from one of your sockets to give more protection, meanwhile dont run everything at once!

Woddle

I would suggest adding up the load on everything and then get back to us, They say that you should not have so many things plugged in,however the load on most electronic equipent is low, so you technically could plug in alot of things providing the ampage isn't too high and I wouldn't see a problem. you will find the info in the instructions booklet or sometimes on the equipment itself, they will say it in amps or watts, if you give me both Ill let you know.
Also it wouldn't be a big job to put in another socket on the other side of the room, might help in tidying up the mess of flexes.

Stoner

yeah i have to agree with the above posts, in most cases people with a large interest in IT require a dedicated circuit with its own 20 Amp RCBO feeding their equipment, this has a lot of advantages, an over filled iron or kettle will not trip your computer circuit, and you have a dedicated 20Amp supply.

If there is only one socket in the room then you can assume that all the upstairs of the house is on the same 20 Amp cct, so the load on this circuit is not limited to what you have in just the box room.

eoghan.geraghty

Try this for size


http://www.ecoelectricals.co.uk/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=449&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Capt'n Midnight

ditch the double adaptor - those things are dangerous if overloaded, always use strip sockets

get a power meter , aldi or lidl or maplin should have them for about €15
and you can see exactly how much you use