daz wrote:I must be bad then, or waiting for a fire, I’ve used 13 amp adapters, plugged in for over 2 years, and no problems what so ever, kettle, microwave, even a heater.
Whether i leave an appliance plugged in directly, or plugged in through a good adapter, it is still plugged in, so I don’t see the issue. just check the current they can take. Many so called ‘travel ‘ adapters are just 5 amp. Just make sure they are 13amp so at least they match most standard plugged in items used in the U.K. good luck in whatever u decide.
Well the issue is poor contacts. These things catch fire because of contact resistance, and thats dependant on the current flow though the contacts. This is one of the reasons most wiring components used holes with a screw in the top for wires, among other reasons, its eliminats contact resistance. more or less. And it all reinforces in a positive feedback loop - slowly any contact held together by the spring pressure of the metal will weaken, that decreases contact pressure, that increases contact resistance, that increase contact heating and oxidation, which increases contact resistance, and it spirals.
A Kettle is only used in short bursts, so thats ok. The danger comes when you are running the adapter close to or past its design limit, for a long time. A normal adapater is rated 1250W. So runninga 2000W fan heater through it for 8 hours for a month is dangerous. You have to be careful with Spanish electrics, they dont seem to have invented the Ring Main, either, everythig is on spurs, which isnt allowed in UK IEE (IET) wiring regulations (BS 7671).
Related side story:
Once in my fickle youth i was working in an unheated room with no power in winter with a mate, there was a 100m reel of 13A cable, so we found the ends, put a plug on one end and a 13A socket on another, unrolled about 1/4 of it and used it as an extension cable to run a 2 Kw fan heater. After about 3 hours we smelled burning. The remaining rolled up cable had heated up ,partially melted the plastic coating and was close to catching fire. What had happened was ofc course the rolled up cable acted like an induction furnace, helped by the metal spool it was wrapped round, once it got the 8 amps from the fan heater down it. In 3 hours it heated it up almost to destruction
MORAL: Do not under estimate the power of high electric currents (even at low voltage) to heat up stuff if you give it chance, be it induction or contact resistance. And never ignore Michael Faraday.....