I woke up at 5Am as I often do with the cold, so up I get and I'm so cold I decided to have a coffee and cig before hopping back into bed to get warm as it's 0.0 degrees here this morning . So back into bed Hop and I pop on my 50s heater and start to read what the world is up to today on Google, Then out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw smoke? So I look about the room at a glance,no smoke? So I continue Reading. Then I see a lot more smoke ! I jump out of bed and I see the extension cord has melted on the floor and the plastic is on fire, I switch the power off and pull the plug.
Hmm cheap crappy extension leads! Not worth a pinch of shit.
Yes I know where it's from!
So I check the heater with anther lead and it's ok the lead and plug is not getting hot so it's the extension lead.
But a point I want to make here is I never smelt a thing! If I had fallen asleep again there would of been a BBQ at my house and I would of been the sausage.
Buyer beware of cheap products !
Particularly AC leads, switches, lights ,lamps and heaters. It's not up to par and nobody will convince me that it is !

Pete

The lead I had bought it from Woolies

Ah, Pete.........

Ten years ago in the testing dept of a large well known electronics retailer.
Smoke comes out of an extension lead on test, with actual AMPS of current going through it.
Tester takes fried extension lead to Purchasing dept, throws still smoking thing onto head purchasers desk.
WTF?

Purchaser rings up supplier in YNW (you know where).
P. "your ext lead fails standard load test".
YKW. "No ploblem, we send more, you want same coror?"
P. "What we want is leads that will comply with standards"
YKW. "No ploblem, so solly, how many you want, what coror?"
P. "Let me make it clear, we want leads that comply, to AS or we will send the lot back. THEY MUST PAST TEST."
YKW. "We do, we do, no ploblem, you get good leads, how many you want what coror?"
P. Understand this, your leads MUST comply with AS testing!"
YKW. No ploblem, we mark with AS number and ship straight away!!"

Two months later.
Smoke comes out of new batch extension lead on test.
Tester takes fried lead to purchasing.
WTF?

Repeat and rinse........................

I'll bet that scenario got repeated all around Australia in companies that actually still had a test department.
Nowadays i'll bet you no retailer has access or has in house product testing.
AS numbers, C ticks, compliance numbers, just get stamped on the product so therefore the product must be ok.
Hence we have $2 plug packs that catch fire, leads that smoke, power boards go brown and smoke and so on and so on.

Hello suckers!
But its cheap!
Fred.

Good to hear you are ok Pete thanks for the info.

I will go and buy a good one today if ones available.
That lead is about 6 months old.
But it just goes to show you how easy a fire can start.
It's not just leads though ,it's tons of house hold products. Taps and washers use to last year's ,now they last a few months.
Oh well, that's how it is.

Pete

That country's 1st priority is for you to buy the product.
Whether it works or not is of no concern to them.
At least we have smoke detectors, but guess where they are made!!
Did you dissect the lead to see how much copper is in it.
I'll bet there's not much.

My guess the wire inside is copper plated iron. Same stuff that is used (legitimately) for making co-ax antenna cable.

You could check this with a magnet. Does a magnet pick up the cable? It damned-well shouldn't!

Or it could be aluminium wire.....

You should make a BIG FUSS at Woolies!! They should recall all such leads immediately.

Beware of extension leads. Most basic extension leads are only rated at 7.5A and an ordinary 2,000W oil heater will cook it because 240 x 7.5 = 1,800. If you have a 2,400W heater, it'll pull the full 10A rating out of the GPO and the cord will cook even quicker.

I am convinced that this is what starts most of the tragic house fires during winter. 7.5A rated extension leads should be illegal - end of story. The minimum rating of any flexible cord with a plug top at one end and a socket at the other should be 10A.

Sadly, most extension leads are made in China now. I still make my own when I need one with Clipsal 438s and 439s (plugs and sockets) and Australian-made Prysmian flex rated at 10A. When I need one in a hurry I will resort to buying one but I usually go to Bunnings and get the orange-yellow ones as they have a thicker gauge wire in them. I don't load these ones up though.

I just got back from Bunnings , Kmart, total tools , no leads made in Australia !
Well ya can only try.

Pete.

You can still make your own with genuine Oz 10 amp cable and genuine HPM or Clipsal ends.

Out of curiousity, did you do the magnet test on the Chinese cable?

Hi Ian .
I'm going to make my own and I didn't mention that because everyone will think I'm being difficult! , Stupid old bugger!
But I have a box full of NOS plugs so I will make a few sets up . I phoned Woolies and they said someone will contact me.
I have not used a magnet yet ,maybe tonight when boof head is in bed.

Pete

If you make your own leads, you need to head to TLE and make sure they sell you the Aussie stuff rated at 10A. There is some Chinese cable available but who knows what it's made of and what dangerous chemicals are mixed in with the PVC. Bear in mind that flexible cord is a lot more expensive than building wire. But if you want the best, that is how to get it. Clipsal and HPM plug tops and sockets aren't made here that I know of but the quality is still good.

flexible cord is a lot more expensive than building wire

I remember flexible cable. In fact I have some of it in my workshop dating back to the 1960s which collapses easily and can be oscillated like a skipping rope. Since the Chinese took over making cables, we are now saddled with stiff, barely flexible rubbish with memory. Bendable, not flexible. And try leaving it in the sun for any length of time.

Flexible actually should have a national standard definition. But based on the current regulators performance, it would be ignored like the rest.

I have a Silicon Rubber cable here that is supposed to be flexible, however the wire core in it broke on a regular basis on a soldering iron. I did have a go at a sales rep for one of the major purveyors of parts & junk when they changed the "suicide cables" which I now buy from others, if cloth outside, & Middys.

Ridiculous if you can just about stand the so called flexible cable, in the rack like a shovel. One can easily make the cable cheaper by reducing the expensive plasticiser that keeps it flexible & stops it cracking. "Infinity cable" (https://www.productsafety.gov.au/recalls/browse-all-recalls?search=infinity+cable&sort_by=accc_solr_date&items_per_page=25) and also house wire are good examples of where it can go seriously wrong.

I have a deep down suspicion that the dodgy cable is what brought down "Masters". Insurance has a limit. Rewiring a house is not cheap.

The other problem with cheap mains flex is when it is wound on a drum.
The heat builds up quickly and can actually melt the drum!
My son did this with an Arlec extension cable on a small winder.
I could smell something cooking and found the drum melted and distorted.
When I tried to unwind the cable I found it melted together with some of the active and neutral wires protruding!
I have found Arlec stuff to be particularly nasty.

Yes, I've seen people use leads when they are full of knots and a tangled mess and the leads cook!
I will make some leads this week end and anther good thing about making your own leads is they will be grey...hard to buy grey leads these days