My friend has what seems to be a secondary fuse box which services the appliances in the extension. The fuse box seems to have one plug socket running directly off of it (via a cable dangling down from the fuse box) which then has two sets of 4 socket extension cables plugged into it (one plugged into the other). Off of these extension leads are a washing machine and a fridge freezer. The fuse box also services a dual power socket in the garden.

My questions are:

With the setup of the 2 extension cables with the 2 appliances, are there any dangers with that set up? There is a wall mounted dual power socket next to the appliances which runs from the main fuse box, I’m wondering whether it would be better to plug the two appliances into that socket?

When I plug in a lamp and a pond filter into the outside sockets it works fine. But when I plugged in a pressure washer yesterday, the fuse box tripped. Now is this because the socket can take something as powerful as a power washer or could it be that there is too much plugged into the fuse box at that time?

Are the sockets 30mA RCD protected?
The appliances are better off plugged into the double socket you mention. Running extension leads like you describe are a trip hazard and from what you describe how the socket supplying them is fed, the weight of the leads could work the sockets terminals loose, which will cause an unwanted heating effect which could lead to fire issues. Like sparky415 mentioned, BODGE. Somebody needs to look at it really.

Regards


Carl

What he said. Get an electrician to take a look.

Got to wonder why extension leads were used when there is a socket right next to the machine. Perhaps something wrong with it?

Check the label on the back of the washing machine vs the rating on the extension lead. It might be possible to overload the extension lead.

He was about to take a picture when the whole place went up in flames....