Electrical explosion!!!

VileReynard · ‎01-09-2007

I bought a new computer a few weeks ago.
Last night the plug on the lead to the main unit got very hot (melted) which caused an electrical contact to be made.
Bright light, loud bang
It took out all the mains sockets on the upstairs of the house.
Replaced lead, restarted computer which reloaded previously running processes...
I've never known this to happen ever before in any (quite large) offices - anybody ever seen anything on this scale?

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pierre_pierre · ‎30-07-2007

was it a moulded to the wire plug or a screw fitted one?
I once a long time ago did some temporary work delivering for Curries, had several incidences of wire not prepared correctly and managing to touch two terminals a once, or it could be the wire was loose and arcing

VileReynard · ‎01-09-2007

Glad to hear someone else has explosive comments.
But it was just a moulded plug (with embedded fuse) "kettle" type connector.

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MisterW · ‎30-07-2007

Quote
But it was just a moulded plug (with embedded fuse) "kettle" type connector.

I've seen a lot of IEC type leads with moulded plugs fail PAT tests.

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avatastic · ‎30-07-2007

Not quite to that scale, but I've managed to explode a PSU in a shower of sparks.
My first thought was "Wow, that's pretty"
My second thought was "Why hasn't that blown the fuse/tripped the mains"
My third was "Crap, that's pluged in to the UPS"

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