[Aroy]

Originally Posted by carboy

I have an IFB Dryer. Since the location I have placed is about a feet too far from the plug point, I have to use an extender. The plug point on the wall has a switch on which 16A is written. The extender is a heavy duty 16A extender. Every few months, the extender fuse burns off - burns off as in I can actually see black smoke & the fuse cover gets burnt. Since that part itself is burnt, it's not repairable & I have to buy a new extender which costs 500-600 Rs. In about 4 years, 3 extenders have been burnt. The first extender lasted for around 2+ years. The second one for a couple of months & the 3rd one for around 6-8 months. The dryer manual technical specs say the heater rating is 1.8 kw and that the energy consumption is 1 kwh to 4.8 kwh. It says I should use a properly earthed socket of 15 Amp with a 12 Amp fuse.

So what exactly is happening here & what can I do about it?

The plug of the dryer is not fitting snugly into the extender socket. With time and vibrations the contact sparks and that deteriorates the connection. This cycle goes on and on till the sparks are enough to heat up the insulation and burn it.

My suggestion is as follows
. Forget the extenders.
. Cut the power cord in the middle.
. Use one meter of heavy gauge 3 core cable, preferably 2.5 sq.mm cross section each. 4mm is even better.
. If you can, solder the strands. You will have 6 wire ends to solder.
. wind electrical tape at least three times on each strand extending 1cm on each side of the joint and then wind tape on each of the 3 wire set.

NOTE
1. If you cannot find a heavy duty 3 core cable, buy single core in 3 colours - red, green and black. Once the cord is extended, use a tape every 5 cm to bind the wires.
2. You can also change the whole cable to a longer one. Just buy a heavy duty 3 core cable of sufficient length and fix a 16A plug at the end.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by alpha1

You have the MCB to protect you and your equipment, you don't need an extra fuse in between.

IANAE[lectrician)] but, my understanding is that this is a long and widely-held misconception. They are there to protect upstream, not downstream.

Fuses in appliances, plugs and sockets do, in a sense, protect you, but not in the way people think. They protect the house wiring from burning. Distribution-box MCBs are a consumer-friendly way of localising failures and they prevent the main-supply fuses from blowing. The main-supply fuses protect the local transformer... and so on.

Extreme example. Take all these fuses out of the system. Then, if you are tinkering inside some device which is turned on, and you drop your screwdriver, causing a short, the main power station blows up!

None of these fuses/MCBs protect the end user from electric shock in the case of fault causing the case to become live, or in the case of careless/ignorant tinkering. Extreme example here is if you hold bare and neutral cables, you will not trip the MCB: something important in your body is likely to fail first. Or, at least (best) you will suffer a very unpleasant experience until you let go.

Other highly-sensitive devices are available to protect us, and should be used where needed.

I am not an electrician, but have done lots of that careless/ignorant tinkering, and got a few shocks in the process.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by srini1785

The dryer.

Would an electrician know what to check in the dryer? I mean he is not a dryer expert, right? Most electricians have never even seen a dryer. They think it's a washing machine.

Originally Posted by Aroy

The plug of the dryer is not fitting snugly into the extender socket. With time and vibrations the contact sparks and that deteriorates the connection. This cycle goes on and on till the sparks are enough to heat up the insulation and burn it.

It's not the plug or the wire which gets burnt. The extender box has a small fusebox which is the one which gets burnt each & every time. And the plug fits supertight in the extender box. I have to use some other thing to pry it out if I want to remove it.

And the dryer has a 4 year warranty which is still on, so I don't think I will be allowed to cut the wires.

[lurker]

Your extension board is inadequate, you need a 32Amp extension cable reel because the 16amp extension that you have installed is taking stress due to the continual load of the dryer. These dryers are very power intensive machines and need redundant wiring and sockets.

[drsingh]

As explained above by senior members, you should extend the dryer wire and provide isolation /protection via MCB. Just like we isolate air conditioners.

The conduction of current is loose somewhere causing sparking/heat leading to meltdown of fusebox . In ideal conditions, the fuse should melt in case of overload and protect the circuit from overheating.

If you want to check max current draw in Amps , get an electrician with a high quality clampmeter that can measure inrush current. The live wire has to be tested individually. It is basically a toroidal transformer.

If your want a simple solution, it has been provided above. Extend or replace your wire with high quality 2.5 sq mm or 4 sq mm wires. And proper earthing.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Adding to the MCB / Fuse info said above, there is also a device, which I believe is called the ELCB. Combined, these cut the power supply if a load (a table, lamp, a mobile charger, a mixer, washing machine, etc) "leaks" and there is electricity in the farthing circuit. I'm now in a sort of PSU, and every office I "inspect" first thing I do, after finishing paper work is to look at the wiring. Fuses, if found, are replaced within 10 days.

There is a reason a manufacturer put in a 16A plug, and it is not a wise thing to use an extension cord.

However I needed an extension cord for the vacuum at my parents' and I fabricated one - using whatever cable required for a 16A wire and normal 16A socket in a readily available box. (I think it is a box used for wall mounting sockets and switches in concealed wiring). This extension cord is plugged in into a 16A socket, which has a dedicated MCB mounted at the location where the cast iron main switch used to be.

If you understand this, I hope might help you understand your problems better. That said,to trouble shoot whether the problem is with the dryer or the extending cord, you don't have any other option except to put it directly into a wall socket. And your description of the MCB and its history is not very confidence inspiring.

A bye passed MCB or wiring faults need visual inspection.

The electricians here have an absolute jugad which tests for health of the wiring - a bulb on an ordinary holder connected to two pieces of insulated wires. One of the wires goes into the earth socket, and other goes into the socket on right. Ideally, the current In the earthing will induce the MCB to trip. If the bulb keeps glowing, the earthing and / or MCB / ELCB setup is faulty and requires further investigation.

[carboy]

Thanks, guys. I have got a lot of input about my dryer extender problem. I will test out some stuff over the weekend & then contact an electrician & then see what can be done.

[vsrivatsa]

Any recommendations for Air Coolers for the summer that are low noise? I have a Symphony one from a couple of years back and find it very noisy.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Whats the WD3 steel bucket?

the WD-3 Premium instead of the WD-3. I felt the plastic bucket may break on bangs around the house as I may not be the sole person who uses the machine. Home minister is known for being careless and breaking stuff.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Adding to the MCB / Fuse info said above, there is also a device, which I believe is called the ELCB. ...

This is an earth-leakage circuit beaker. There is another one called a residual-current circuit breaker. I don't, and I don't think it is necessary to, know the difference and details, but these are the ones used as personal protection devices on tools, garden equipment, etc. These are designed to prevent damage to people.

[govigov]

Okay.. So my company has announced a company-wide work from home policy starting immediately in light of COVID-19. I need to urgently get atleast one external monitor for my work laptop for use at home. In my work I use 2x24 inch Dell monitors in addition to the laptop screen. What are my options?

[lurker]

what carboy need is something like this

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07TBTLL8W/..._KbXAEbV6T7D66

cut out the plug of the dryer and connect the 3 wires as mentioned below to respective leads on the socket provided here.

Now use other end of the wire red(P), green(E), yellow/black(N) 2.5 sq mm wires to connect directly to the wires from the dryer. Match the colours.

Case closed.

Entire building will come down but nothing will happen to your dryer.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by nirmaljusdoit

Bosch is a problematic refrigerator and service is absolutely terrible. They tried multiple times to diagnose the problem with our brand new refrigerator and finally agreed to refund the amount. The refund cheque took 3 months to arrive.

We bought a Samsung and its working like a charm.

By then I've bought Bosch 347L 3 star. In fact it's got unloaded at home from local store who gave a good discount. Hope yours be an one off case. Keeping fingers crossed.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by carboy

Talked to a LG Repair Guy today about this problem. He said that older LG machines worked fine in the bathroom for 10-15 years (my earlier LG washing machine was testament to this). But the newer ones don't - they get all sorts of problems if kept in the bathroom. Which means this is a solvable design problem, but LG has just screwed up their design in the recent washing machines.
I still have 1 year of warranty left so will continue using it till then. If after that, I still have problems, I am not planning to spend much money on repairing. I will just buy a Washing Machine from a different company. After being a huge LG fan for 15 years, I am now off LG products for life because this and also a problem with LG TV.
Anyway, anyone else keep their washing machine in the bathroom and it has worked fine? Which brand do you own?

This conked off again today. 4th time in 1.5 years of warranty. Still some months of warranty left - so will use it till then & throw it away. The current repairman said this may be because of inverter technology.

So I was wondering if there any top loader washing machines in the market which are non-inverter technology. If so, I will buy those as my next washing machine. Any brand of washing machines which use all obsolete technology & are rugged and water proof?

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by carboy

This conked off again today. 4th time in 1.5 years of warranty...

Will be helpful if you did a post mortem. What failed and why. This will help you avoid the conditions that led to the failure. If it is the circuit board, could it be bad power? A cheap solution would be install a few MOV across the power supply. Moisture? Heat? Good luck!