Landlord liable for broken laptop?

Bob Z

While I was using my laptop in a flat the electricity started going on and off and the lights started flickering. My laptop went off and although it worked when I turned it on again it hasn't worked since. Is this landlord liable for this?

Diddler1977

No

biko

I would say no, the landlord isn't responsible for your laptop reacting to power surges.
Do you know what happened to the power?

djimi

Its up to you to surge protect your equipment so no, I dont see how anyone is responsible for this.

Killgore Trout

Maybe your laptop having a meltdown caused the lights to flicker? Can you try someone else's computer power supply. It sounds like it could be the transformer had a meltdown

You'll have a hard time proving a problem with the power if nothing else blew up.

Bob Z

No the laptop didn't cause the power surge. The power failure hsppens every so often. It's usually flickering lights or a buzzing sound and the the trip goes.

I got the landlord to look at it before and he told me I have too many appliances plugged in but surely it should handle them all?

Mr. Presentable

Bob Z wrote: »

No the laptop didn't cause the power surge. The power failure hsppens every so often. It's usually flickering lights or a buzzing sound and the the trip goes.

I got the landlord to look at it before and he told me I have too many appliances plugged in but surely it should handle them all?

Shhh. Your LL may have a claim against you for overloading his circuit.

Bob Z

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Bob Z wrote: »

No the laptop didn't cause the power surge. The power failure hsppens every so often. It's usually flickering lights or a buzzing sound and the the trip goes.

I got the landlord to look at it before and he told me I have too many appliances plugged in but surely it should handle them all?

Shhh. Your LL may have a claim against you for overloading his circuit.

But when I was at my old address I had more appliances running

djimi

Bob Z wrote: »

I got the landlord to look at it before and he told me I have too many appliances plugged in but surely it should handle them all?

Define too many? Do you have one of those spagetti junction style mess of adaptors and splitters coming out of the sockets?!!

biko

Bob Z wrote: »

But when I was at my old address I had more appliances running

I think you need to understand how wiring of a house works.
Just because you had 10 things running from a fuse before doesn't mean it'll work now.

Bob Z

djimi wrote: »

Bob Z wrote: »

I got the landlord to look at it before and he told me I have too many appliances plugged in but surely it should handle them all?

Define too many? Do you have one of those spagetti junction style mess of adaptors and splitters coming out of the sockets?!!

I have about 6 or 7 thing plugged in bit not all being used including a lamp with a dimmer plug on it. Could the dimmer plug be doing the damage?

Solair

The number of "things" plugged in has nothing to do with the load on the circuit.

We'd need to know what things and, more importantly, what their rated maximum load is in watts.

In Ireland, because of fused plugs, it's usually not very easy to overload a socket as if you plug in a multi-plug extension lead, and exceed 13amps the fuse blows.

Is all the power going off to the entire house?

Or, just 1 particular socket circuit?

The wiring should be capable of supplying normal household appliances, being used in a normal way.

Socket circuits in Ireland typically handle either 16 amps (which at 230Volts is about 3680 Watts or 20 amps (4600Watts). Normally, one of these radial circuits feeds each large room and you might have 2 or more in the kitchen. Bedrooms often share 1 radial between two bedrooms.

Ring circuits are sometimes used too ,but they're relatively unusual in Ireland compared to the UK.

If the total wattage of the appliances connected to the circuit is greater than the capacity of that circuit the breaker will trip.

Perhaps consider moving some of the heavy appliances to a different room / circuit.

Are you using a lot of plug-in heaters while the dishwasher / dryer etc are running?

.....

Also, the lights and sockets are normally on different circuits, so flickering lights to me would indicate some kind of a major fault / loose connection somewhere.

I would ask your landlord to get an electrician to inspect the electrical system as it sounds like more than just an overloaded circuit to me anyway.

If it's a bedsit or some kind of house conversion, it's possible that the supply to your apartment is just inadequate for normal use.

Is this coming from a privately owned landlord meter, or do you have your own ESB meter?

OP: You might actually get more help posting on the Electrical Forum : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1018

westom

Bob Z wrote: »

I have about 6 or 7 thing plugged in bit not all being used including a lamp with a dimmer plug on it. Could the dimmer plug be doing the damage?

If the plug was overloaded, the accusation comes with a number. How many amps (or watts) do all 6 or 7 items consume. Without a number, any answer is nothing more than wild speculation.

Same applies to your 'damage'. What 'damage'? Damage has not yet been defined. For all we know, the laptop's safety lockout feature has tripped and only needs to be reset.

What exactly is not working in the laptop? Is its power supply not workings (view its LED indicator)? Were laptop batteries expired? What is every indicator and sound when the power button is pressed?

A laptop already contains a UPS that makes power cycling irrelevant. Others should have also known that neither power off nor power cycling is a surge. But again, another suspect was invented only on speculation. Without hard facts or numbers.

First establish what (if anything) is damaged. Only then can anyone suggest how to avert future failures. Not yet defined is what has failed. Without that fact, then every recommendation can only be wild speculation.

Speculation is obvious when recommendations are made without hard facts and numbers. Such as an accusation of too many appliances connected. Nobody even said how many amps each consumes. Therefore only wild speculation is possible. Numbers separate the fewer who know from those who are only speculating.