Coincidence or....?

marketty

Hi just looking for some advice here as to whether I may need to get an electrician in.
We have had a few electrical devices fail in our flat recently and I'm wondering if there is something causing it or is it just coincidence.
The first issue is the immersion heater started tripping the breaker. We are in a very hard water area so I wouldn't be surprised if it is wrecked by that. For the time being just haven't bothered using it, have an electric shower which is working fine.
In the bedroom we have had 3 lamps die in the past few months (and no it wasn't the bulb or fuse!) plus an iPod dock which only lasted a couple of days before its plug/transformer went bang and tripped the breaker for bedroom sockets. The toaster died last week and again it wasn't the fuse, but we have had it for a while. The latest problem is the sky box is on the blink, although it still powers up but gets no signal, probably not an electrical problem.

As you can see there's not really anything definite, it's just these things have happened in a small flat in the past 2 months or so. Living here nearly 3 years and had no real problems before.
One thing that comes to mind while I'm writing this is that I often get a small shock from the washer/drier, I always assumed it was static but could it be a sign of a bad earth or something?

Thanks for reading

2011

Without inspecting this installation below are my educated guesses:

marketty wrote: »

The first issue is the immersion heater started tripping the breaker. We are in a very hard water area so I wouldn't be surprised if it is wrecked by that.

Immersions are like bulbs, sometimes they fail. Replace.

In the bedroom we have had 3 lamps die in the past few months

Poor quality/damaged lamps or they were all installed at about at the same time, on for the same amount of time so expire at about the same time.

iPod dock which only lasted a couple of days before its plug/transformer went bang and tripped the breaker for bedroom sockets.

This device is nothing to do with the wiring installation.

The toaster died last week and again it wasn't the fuse, but we have had it for a while.

This device is nothing to do with the wiring installation

the sky box is on the blink

This device is nothing to do with the wiring installation

One thing that comes to mind while I'm writing this is that I often get a small shock from the washer/drier, I always assumed it was static but could it be a sign of a bad earth or something?

This requires investigation.

marketty

Thanks for the swift reply, pretty much confirms what I thought

meercat

I think it would be worthwhile getting an electrician out to check the installation
I'm sure he will check your voltage and your earthing arrangement