Multi electric socket outlet solution for daughter's room?

[Lobster]

As my regular readers(?) will know, I'm doing up my teenaged daughter's bedroom at the mo. I really need to do something about the electrical situation in there, as she keeps enough kit up there to keep a small power station occupied... despite all my scaremongering and entreaties to the contrary (up to and including banging her head against the wall) (well OK, not really) she keeps sneaking cable reels, adapters, fan heaters etc up there and she can't really grasp the hazard concept.

"Whatever, Dad..."

Off the top of my head we have: MP3 player/charger + wallwart Bedside light Clock radio Hairdryer Curling tongs Hair straighteners (still can't understand why she wants both) CD player Desk light TV Aquarium pump Fan heater (although hopefully my substantial recent Kingspan investment will knock that one on the head) Mobile phone charger ...and I'm sure plenty more besides.

Most of these things need a dedicated socket (they all would if she had her way), and I'm wondering about the best way of addressing this. At the moment it's a toss up between simply having a 6-gang extension block at each side of the room, or doing a pukka job extending the existing ring main with rows of 2-gang sockets. I know which is easiest but I do have concerns over the safety aspects, with flexes trailing everywhere etc. Especially the heat-producing devices.

Any creative solutions to what must be a pretty common problem?!

David

[Guy King]

The message from Lobster contains these words:

Bit of trunking with dozens of sockets fitted into it. Run it right round the room.

[Owain]

Those are more likely to set the place on fire from failure or careless use than an electrical overload.

Give her a dedicated 32A radial circuit to the room terminating in a 32A CEEFORM socket, and use a monster socket strip from Olson.

Put a coin meter on the radial circuit... it'll be good practice for when she rents a bedsit.

Owain

[John Rumm]

When I built the new bedrooms in my place I just stuck 8 doubles in each room for starters!

You may find a combined approach is more practical - extend the ring circuit to place enough sockets in strategic places so as to eliminate most trailing lead trip hazards. Then use short multiway extension leads in specific places - like one attached to a desk to pick up the lamp, and other desk vbound detritus, then another by the bedside for the clock radio etc. That way she ought to be able to dedicate a fixed socket to the high current loads like the fan heater (which she will still need of course - although she may need the windows open more often! ;-)

Try and educate against plugging one extension into another etc (to keep disconnect times short on hand held appliances).

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Lobster saying something like:

With the exception of the fan heater and hairdryer, they're all fairly small drawers of current, so a couple of extra twin gang permanent sockets feeding a couple of trailing 4 or 6 way sockets would do for the small stuff, leaving a permanent socket or two for the fan heater.

A point to remember is... all the wallwarts add up. Just counting mine, I have a total of about 20 plugged in for various things (and many more unplugged) and the cost over the year becomes significant.

[meow2222]

Its not hard to make a megaway trailing adaptor. Now you can buy 8 ways ready made very cheaply, an 8 way plug in in each corner should solve the problem. Get ones with 1m or 2m leads and there isnt much to trip over.

The other problem, the load, can be solved by replacing the possibly

3kW heater with a 1kW one.

NT

[TheScullster]

"Lobster" wrote

Some of these multi-way adaptors have mounting "slots" on the base. To tidy up the kids "den" I fixed 2 eight gang protected extension blocks to the back of the home work/computer desk. The top overhangs the back so it's just possible to get a hand in to switch and unplug each appliance. This gives no trailing leads and tidies the back wall/foot well under the desk.

As others have said, combining this sort of approach with limited mods to fixed wiring should give a satisfactory solution with minimum hassle.

Phil

[Christian McArdle]

Also, put 3A fuses on the multiway. This will discourage the fan heater/hairdryer going on those. Some people have no concept of safety at all. When I was a child, my brother would go to bed with a fan heater, plugged into a multiway adaptor, under the covers. I was terrified that I would die in a house fire (there was absolutely no method of escape from my old bedrooom). He just would not listen.

Christian.

[Jon]

[e-mail] declared for all the world to hear...

Most of things are low-power devices, just buy her a good quality 6 or 8 way fused multiplug and let her get on with it.

[Jim Alexander]

A falacy. Needs several million Sky boxes on standby to do that.

despite all my scaremongering and entreaties

That's most relevant. Ideally you need a proper outlet in a more suitable place. The recommended provision for a bedroom is 4 to 6 double outlets. I suggest bringing the room up to recommended standards. I read that as at least one per wall thus eliminating the need for cable reels. Nothing at all wrong with multiblocks but anything that gets plugged and unplugged frequently I would use the wall socket for. Don't agree with the suggestion to change the multiblock fuse to 3A. That's just inviting the prospect of unnecessary and uncontrolled fuse changing. If its a 13A product it's a 13A product.

Jim A

[Guy King]

The message from "Jim Alexander" contains these words:

But there /are/ several million Sky boxes on standby.

[Jim Alexander]

Yep, but not in the OPs daughter's bedroom.

Jim A

[Guy King]

The message from "Jim Alexander" contains these words:

That's just supposition.

[Pete C]

I'd do this, get switched ones and put them somewhere accessible to make it easy to switch of unused stuff.

If she goes out and leaves everything on, you only have to switch off the extension sockets at the wall.

I would NOT do this, if she goes out and leaves everything on, you'll have to go round the room bending down and switching off each pair of sockets.

Just ask her to plug the heater into a wall socket, everything else can go on an extension block nearest to where they're used.

BTW a tip for marking out drill holes to put an extension block on the wall:

Screw a couple of self tappers part way through a small bits of thin ply.

Slide into the keyholes on the back of the block.

Line up block on the wall and press it down to leave marks where the holes need to be drilled.

cheers, Pete.