Causes of heating the cable of electrical wiring and household appliances

extension The main causes of heating

There are several possible causes of overheating of live conductors, namely: the

• cable or cable cross section can not withstand the loads from connected household appliances;
• incorrectly performed the installation of electrical wiring, resulting in overheating of the cable line;
• poor-quality wire connection;
• low quality of the cable itself.

Now we will look at the instructions for determining the fault, and also tell you what to do if the cable is heated in this or that way.

Ways of solving the

problem So, there is a difference between the fact that the electrical wiring in the house is heating up or the cord is from household appliances. In this regard, and the technology of repair will be different. To help you understand the material, let's look at individual examples of what and how to do.

Household Appliances

If you notice that the wire is heating from the water heater or washing machine, first of all you need to determine how the heating happens: at one specific place or along the entire length. Most often, the plug is plugged into a power outlet. This is due to the fact that between the terminals of the socket and the supply wires of the wiring, a bad contact. Because of this, the terminals of the socket are heated, and all heat is transferred to the electrical plug. In addition to bad contact, the cause of the malfunction may be a weak socket( for example, rated at 10 A).The fact is that powerful electrical appliances: a stove, a boiler, a heater, and even some teapots normally function only when connected to a 16-amp socket or directly from the shield( if the power exceeds 3.5 kW).As you already know, a 10 amp socket will not withstand high loads and will begin to heat up, melt( as in the photo below) and after a short time a short circuit may occur.

The second reason for heating the wire from home appliances is poor contact in the plug itself or on the other side, where the wires are connected to the terminal block of the appliance. You need to disassemble the electrical plug and check the reliability of connecting the contacts if the plug itself is heated. If the wire is heated on the side of the equipment, check how the connection is made at the back end of the conductor.

Well, the last thing that can be - the cable of a water heater or other powerful equipment heats up due to the fact that manufacturers decided to save on the conductor itself and made it with a smaller cross section. As a result, the cord is heated along the entire length. For example, if the capacity of the water heater is 4.5 kW, the cross-section of the wires must be at least 2.5 mm2.Accordingly, if the cable cross section is 1.5 mm2, that is why it is heated. All you need to do is replace an unreliable conductor with a more powerful one. About how to calculate the cross-section of the cable in terms of power, we told.

Useful video on the topic:

Wiring

Do not know what to do if the wiring in the house or apartment is heated? You can solve the problem in a similar way. Typically, the power cable can be heated in the switchboard or junction boxes. Both in the first and in the second case the cause of strong heating is a weak contact, but this in order.

This photo shows that the insulation of the wire is melted due to the fact that it has overheated for a long time:

The reason is a bad contact, or, more precisely, incorrect connection of a stranded conductor to the bus. Stranded wire can only be connected after pressing with a sleeve, otherwise the reliability of the connection will be very low. Also, heating can occur on automatic machines, which indicates a poor-quality installation. About how to connect the circuit breaker, we told in the relevant article. It is possible that the vending machines in the shield are heated due to the fact that you have chosen an inappropriate product rating. In this case, you need to replace AB with the one that corresponds to the serviced group( lighting or sockets).

As for junction boxes, in these places the cable usually heats up on twists due to poor connection. To eliminate heat, it is recommended to replace twisted strands with more reliable terminal blocks.

We draw your attention to the fact that it is strictly forbidden to connect aluminum wires with copper wires. In this case, the wire will be uniquely heated, the insulation and fire can be melted in the future. It is only possible to connect aluminum to copper with WAGO terminals.

Well, the last reason that the cable line is heated in the house - you have old aluminum wiring, which is not capable of withstanding the load of modern household appliances. We explained in detail how to replace the electrical wiring in the apartment. About the replacement of the wiring in the private house there is also a separate article, which we strongly recommend to read.

A few words about the

extensions Another problem that often arises is that the extension cord is heated when connecting an electric stove or a washing machine. We have said more than once that using extension cords is not the best option, becausefor today in the market of electrotechnical goods a lot of poor-quality Chinese production. From personal experience we can say that there were cases when the extension cord was not that heated, but generally melted along the entire length at the first connection of the washing machine. The thing was that the extension cable was only 0.75 mm2 when it was necessary to have at least 1.5.If the transfer is heated, we recommend that you make an extension cord with your own hands, using a PVS wire with a cross section of at least 2.5 mm2.

By the way, even high-quality extensions can be heated, if they are on a coil. The fact is that the coiled cable heats up more quickly due to the inductance, so when connecting powerful electrical appliances, for example, a welding machine or a deep pump, you must unwind the coil!

That's all I wanted to tell you on this issue. We hope that now you know why the cable is warming up and what to do in this case!

It will be interesting to read:

• What extinguishers extinguish wiring
• Why the socket will spark when the plug is turned on
• Why does the

circuit breaker