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Electrical Socket Fish Smell
Hi, yesterday I plugged in my electrical heater for use and noticed a
fishy smell. I also noticed my cats paying particular attention to the
socket the heater was plugged to.
Unknowingly I turned off the heater assuming it must’ve picked up some
cat hair or something, while turning off the socket for good measure.
Today before turning it on again I looked up fish smell and found out
that it was due to burned electrical components. To my shock when I went
to remove the plug it was stuck tight. So much so that I thought better
to just leave it. I also removed devices stuck to the remaining sockets
nearby.
I’m planning to call an electrician as soon as I can but it’s the
weekend and my choices here are limited. Are we in real danger if it’s
unplugged and turned off?
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|u/LeatherLatexSteel - 23 hours
|
|The smell means it is overheating and in danger of catching fire
|u/HailZem - 22 hours
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|If the socket is now turned off and not hot to the touch or leaving a
|smell is it still a risk?
|u/Dakotasunsets - 21 hours
|
|Yes, you are still at risk. Worse, you could have an electrical
|fire in your walls and not know it until it is out of hand. What
|is worth it to you? Burning down your house with your cats in it or
|calling an emergency electrician on the weekend? I don't mean to
|be cruel, but a fire started in this manner with my house and a
|fan in the bathroom shorting out. I left it off thinking, "If it is
|off, it's fine." Luckily, I was home when the fire started, or I
|would have lost my whole house. Even then, I couldn't find the
|source. It was bad. Please, I guarantee it will be safer and
|cheaper to get it looked at this weekend.
|u/8m3gm60 - 13 hours
|
|> but a fire started in this manner with my house and a fan in
|the bathroom shorting out. I left it off thinking, "If it is off,
|it's fine." But you didn't cut the power to that circuit, right?
|u/HailZem - 20 hours
|
|Thing is I turned it off last night, we’ve slept over it and then
|some. If there was a fire it would’ve actually happened ages ago,
|right?
|u/bakedbombshell - 20 hours
|
|It could happen at any time. You need to call an electrician
|now. Off doesn’t mean safe and right now you’re sitting on
|something that just takes one spark to go off
|u/HailZem - 20 hours
|
|Got it. I’ll call right away
|u/Dakotasunsets - 20 hours
|
|Not necessarily. Just turning off the device doesn't mean the
|electricity isn't still live to the plug. It would be one
|thing if you turned off the fuse to the panel. If you cut the
|circuit, then you should be fine. If not, electricity is still
|live, and you are still in danger of a fire. You said you
|didn't know which fuse is which on the panel? Did you figure it
|out? At minimum do that because even with some safety features
|built in, the mere fact that a faulty piece of equipment is
|plugged into a live circuit is a considerable risk.
|u/gonnafaceit2022 - 17 hours
|
|I don't understand what they mean by turning off the outlet.
|My outlets don't turn off... I would have to turn off the
|breaker.
|u/CozmicFlea - 16 hours
|
|In many parts of Europe, outlets have on off switched right
|on the outlet. They aren’t referring to the breaker box;
|there’s a switch on the outlet itself.
|u/Dakotasunsets - 16 hours
|
|Yes, the comments refer to cutting the electricity to the
|specific area of the house/unit of OP's situation through
|the breaker box. There are some safety features built
|into electrical outlets, these are not guaranteed to be
|working correctly or even added into OP's residence
|(depending on building codes). One big example of a safety
|feature are test and retest buttons (the red and black
|buttons) that are usually seen in bathrooms or kitchens.
|They probably are not installed in every outlet in OP's
|house (they are only installed in my bathrooms). Good
|rule of thumb is to get your electricity in your household
|checked every 15 years by a certified electrician.
|u/gonnafaceit2022 - 16 hours
|
|Oh yes, the first thing I did when I bought my house was
|have an electrician check everything. I'll probably do it
|again before the 15-year mark, but good to know that's
|the general timeframe. I have a pretty intense fear
|about house fires, after my high school boyfriend's
|brother and little cousins died in one, so I do not mess
|around with anything electric. My security system has a
|heat and smoke detector and that's the main reason I've
|kept it all these years. It does give some peace of mind.
|u/Dakotasunsets - 16 hours
|
|Yes, I don't mess around with electricity, either. My
|grandmother saw her family home butn down as a child,
|it traumatized her. My partner and I went through a
|bathroom fire that started in the ceiling and got into
|the walls. That was in 2020, and everything was so
|expensive, materials were difficult to get, so was new
|fixtures. But, my dogs and I made it out,the first
|responders were awesome, and my house was saved. My
|partner was at work. Everybody was fine. But, yeah,
|electrical fires are very serious and I am glad the OP
|is finally calling an expert (allegedly, according to
|the comments 🤞).
|u/gonnafaceit2022 - 16 hours
|
|I'm so glad you all made it out safely, that must
|have been terrifying. Recently I came inside after
|a walk and there was a horrible burning plastic
|smell. I didn't see any smoke and I couldn't tell
|where it was coming from other than the kitchen. I
|immediately turned all the breakers off and called a
|friend who is not an electrician, but has a lot of
|fancy electrical testing stuff for his job. But by
|the time he got here, I had found the source of the
|smell-- I had a vape plugged in charging, and the end
|of the charger and the plug-in part of the vape were
|all melted and scorching hot. It wasn't the outlet
|though, he tested them all, and I worry about leaving
|things charging now. There are so many stupid
|charging cords, I probably mistakenly used the fast
|charging cable for my phone or something.
|u/CMD2 - 9 hours
|
|It is common in Europe for sockets to have on/off
|switches built in that cut the power to them. We (as in
|my house) tend to use them for things that go standby and
|still draw power even when "off". I don't know how it
|compares in terms of safety to turning off breakers, but
|it is more than just a difference in terminology.
|u/taphin33 - 19 hours
|
|Don't go back to sleep when there's an elevated risk for
|electrical fire, one of my best friends growing up had a house
|fire and it was terrifying, if you think you can get out fast,
|you're overblowing your own ability.
|u/olliegw - 15 hours
|
|Even with switched sockets there's still power going to the
|socket (or at least the switch) even when switched off. My
|brother once replaced one that quit switching off and it turned
|out because the switch was somehow arcing across.
|u/pighamgammon - 22 hours
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|I'd get an electrician in.
|u/handsoffdick - 20 hours
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|Possibly but probably not. You can wait until Monday to call an
|electrician. If you want to be really safe, find the breaker for
|that outlet and turn it off.
|u/two-of-me - 21 hours
|
|There are plenty of electricians who work weekends. Start making phone
|calls. This is a very time sensitive situation. One spark can cause a
|house to burn down. This simply cannot wait until Monday.
|u/NeptuneAndCherry - 16 hours
|
|Bro turn off the breaker to it yesterday. It WILL start a fire whether
|you have anything plugged in or not
|u/Big_Boat69420 - 22 hours
|
|Fish smell is almost (98%) burning electrical wires inside of your
|wall. I would turn the breaker off for that part of the house at least
|until you could get someone out there. Your house will burn down if you
|don’t
|u/pighamgammon - 22 hours
|
|Not a good sign. I'd get an electrician out. A fish smell indicates a
|possible electrical fire
|u/NewRazzmatazz2455 - 16 hours
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|You can also call your local fire department and ask them to come take
|a look
|u/ankole_watusi - 17 hours
|
|Probably should ask in r/askElectricians
|u/universalstargazer - 15 hours
|
|Glad you figured it out cause I was coming here to share the exact same
|experience, a heater plugged into an outlet, suddenly fishy smell.
|Removed the plug and it had burned the outlet completely. Grateful it
|wasn't worse.
|u/Ok-Equivalent8260 - 17 hours
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|Electrical fire in your walls
|u/BisexualCaveman - 21 hours
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|I'd ask in /electrician but this feels like you're calling one
|regardless.
|u/Magicdesign - 23 hours
|
|If you have a circuit board and know which fuse relates to that plug,
|it would be good to turn that off too. You were drawing more power than
|that socket could cope with (perhaps low quality wiring or damaged
|wiring or an overpowered heater). Have a look at the wattage of the
|heater before plugging it in to any other socket. Most sockets (in my
|country) can cope with about 3000watts (not permanently though).
|u/HailZem - 23 hours
|
|I have a circuit board but sadly not sure what turns off what and I’m
|not sure how to find out :( I’ve also used this heater with this
|exact same socket before which is really weird to me
|u/good_oleboi - 18 hours
|
|After you replace the outlet, turn off each breaker one by one,
|mark what does what and tape it to the breaker box that way in the
|future if anything happens you know which one to flip quick
|u/sk0rpeo - 21 hours
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|Call an electrician.
|u/rando439 - 18 hours
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|The circuit box may need to be replaced, too. If something is
|drawing enough power to melt a plug, it should have tripped and
|stopped the power going to that outlet and anything else on that
|circuit.
|u/AndroidColonel - 15 hours
|
|A worn-out, damaged, or corroded plug or receptacle that is
|making poor contact for any reason can develop enough heat to
|cause it or both halves to melt down. This condition will not
|always trip a circuit breaker.
|u/olliegw - 15 hours
|
|Find an electrician that works weekends, it could be internally arcing
|or anything
|u/John_Thursday - 11 hours
|
|I saw Electrical Socket Fish Smell at the Deaf Institute in Manchester
|in ‘23 and they were fucking amazing
|