Summer call-outs have a pattern. It is not that the wiring changes in July. It is that what people plug in changes, and that everything already running has a harder time getting rid of its own heat.
Cooling appliances are heavy loads
A portable air conditioner is one of the largest single loads most homes ever plug in — comparable with a kettle, but running for hours rather than minutes. It wants a wall socket of its own. Not an extension, and not a shared four-way with a television and three chargers on it.
Tower and pedestal fans are modest by comparison, but they run continuously for weeks, often overnight, often in a bedroom. That is a lot of hours on a cheap plug and a thin flex.
Heat makes every existing weakness worse
A slightly loose connection that coped through the winter has less margin when the ambient temperature is twenty degrees higher. Cable in a loft is the clearest case: loft temperatures in a heatwave get high enough that cable buried in insulation is already working hard before anything is switched on.
Overnight charging
Warm nights mean more devices left charging in bedrooms, often on soft surfaces. A charger on a duvet or under a pillow cannot shed heat. Charge on a hard surface, clear of bedding, and use the charger that came with the device rather than whatever was cheapest.
Garden electrics
- Use outdoor-rated sockets and leads outside — an indoor extension through a window is not a solution.
- Check outdoor socket seals still close properly, since UV and frost both perish them.
- Keep leads out of the path of a mower, and out of standing water.
- Anything outdoors should be on RCD protection. If you are not sure yours is, establish that before the summer rather than during it.
If you are unsure, it is always cheaper to ask than to guess. Give us a call and we will tell you straight.