What should I do if I smell burning from a socket or appliance?

The smell of overheating electrical insulation is distinctive — hot plastic, sometimes described as fishy, because that is what the flame retardants in socket faces and cable smell like when they cook. It comes from a loose connection, an overloaded circuit, a damaged cable or a failing appliance, and the common feature is heat being generated somewhere it was not designed to be. Electrical faults are among the largest causes of accidental house fires in the UK, and the smell is usually the only warning.

Safety

What you'll need

• A torch, in case you switch off lighting circuits
• The location of your consumer unit
• The number of a registered electrician
• A working smoke alarm

Step by step

1. If there is smoke, sparking, glowing or flame — ring 999 and get out.Do not open a cupboard containing the consumer unit if it is smoking, do not try to unplug something that is arcing, and do not use water. Close doors behind you and ring 999 from outside.
2. For a smell only, switch off the circuit at the consumer unit.Find the breaker for that part of the house and switch it off. If you cannot identify it, switch off the main switch — the whole house going dark for an evening is a small price.
3. Unplug what was in use, if the plug is cool and undamaged.Pull it out by the plug body, never the cable. If the plug, socket face or cable is hot, discoloured, melted or sticky, leave it alone entirely — the circuit is already off.
4. Ventilate the room.Open a window. The fumes from burning insulation are an irritant and, from some plastics, genuinely toxic. Get people out of that room while it clears.
5. Look for what is obvious, without touching.Brown or yellow discolouration around socket pins, a melted plug top, a scorched extension lead, a cable pinched behind furniture, a socket with several high-power things in a single adaptor. Photograph it for the electrician.
6. Leave the circuit off and stop using the socket or appliance.Mark it with tape and tell everyone in the house. The temptation to switch it on 'just to see' is what turns a warning into a fire.
7. Ring a registered electrician, not a handyman.Someone registered with a competent-person scheme such as NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA or SELECT. Explain that there was a burning smell — it changes the urgency of the appointment.
8. Report it if the appliance was recent or under warranty.Overheating appliances get recalled. Report it to the manufacturer and to Trading Standards, and check the model against the government's product recall list before you buy a replacement.
9. Ring 105 if the smell is at the meter or the incoming supply.The service head, the meter and the cable coming into the house are the distribution network's responsibility, not an electrician's. 105 is free and connects you to them anywhere in Great Britain; in Northern Ireland ring NIE Networks on 03457 643 643. If it is smoking, ring 999 first.

Tips

• Sockets that are warm to the touch, plugs that will not stay in, and lights that dim when an appliance starts are all early warnings of the same problem. None of them are normal.
• Block adaptors stacked in one socket are the classic cause. A fused extension lead with an on-off switch is far safer than a cube adaptor, and a 13A socket is a 13A socket no matter how many holes you plug into it.
• The riskiest appliances are the ones with heating elements and motors left running unattended — tumble dryers, washing machines, dishwashers and electric heaters. Do not run them overnight or when out.
• An Electrical Installation Condition Report every ten years in an owned home, or five in a rented one, is what finds loose connections before they smell. Rented homes in England legally require one every five years.
• Lithium battery chargers — e-bikes and e-scooters especially — should never be charged in a hallway or by the front door, because a battery fire there blocks the only way out.

Common mistakes

• Switching it back on the next day because the smell has gone — The smell going means it cooled down, not that the fault went away. The loose connection or damaged cable is still there and the next use generates the same heat.
• Throwing water on an electrical fire — Water conducts and the fire may still be live. If something is alight it is a 999 call, and the only extinguisher for live electrics is a CO2 or dry powder one used from a distance.
• Pulling a hot or arcing plug out by hand — You can be burnt or shocked. Isolate the circuit at the consumer unit first — that removes the danger without touching the fault.
• Treating a burning smell as a job for the weekend — The interval between the first smell and a fire is often days, sometimes hours. It is an urgent call-out, and leaving the circuit off in the meantime is the correct interim step.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask