Fishy smell - overheating electrics?

[towser]

yesterday I got a strong fishy smell in one room, this started suddenly and hadn't been there before. Did the usual checks for dead mice, food discarded by the kids etc....but nothing.

Smell has now disappeared and hasn't come back.

Speaking to a friend he suggested that I might have an electrical fault and the overheating could be causing the smell.

What's the best way of diagnosing this....? Is it a case of removing wall sockets, light switches etc....and checking for any suspicious signs of overheating etc? Could the smell be coming from something like the plug on an appliance??

Any advice welcome....nervous that I'm sitting on a potentially catastrophic problem.

[LdnShtr]

I had this and it was the switch for my electric shower. When I took the switch off the wall it was obvious there was a fault with it so I changed it out and the smell went away.

You could try using various different electrical devices with everything else turned off to try to trace where it is coming from but by the time you can smell it there is already a problem so be careful!

I would be looking inside switches and sockets first I think but try to think about when you notice the smell. For me it was obvious as it was after having a shower.

[74merc]

I've experienced this twice, you should be able to smell your way to the general area of the source of it.
On one occasion it was a loose live wire in an Immersion heater switch which had come in contact with the cover plate. The other occasion was in a ceiling rose.

[matty g]

I had this many moons ago.

Every now and then we'd get a whiff of fish from around the meter.

Turns out the every now and then was a Friday. And next door were religious.

Worth checking before calling out a sparky. Because he will laugh if it is

[guindilias]

It tends to be the older, more Bakelite-y switches etc. that smell of fish when they are overheating - my immersion heater switch did the same thing!

[blueg33]

guindilias said:

It tends to be the older, more Bakelite-y switches etc. that smell of fish when they are overheating - my immersion heater switch did the same thing!

If its the old Bakelite switches it may not be over heating. The Bakelite starts to degrade with age and even normal wiring heat can make it smell. According tou sparky anyway.

[guindilias]

It died about two days later... was not a pretty sight inside! Luckily the fish smell had given me enough warning to pick up a new one - after I'd had to ask the (to me) daft question to one of our sparks "Why does my immersion heater switch smell of fish?"

[hairyben]

stating the obvious but anything on/in use at that time that isn't now?

silly as it sounds use your nose and sniff everything electrical up close- the smell will be stronger at source.

[motco]

It's overheating of a urea formaldehyde electrical fitting. Quite often the neutral terminal in a 13a plug will work loose and the high resistance joint that ensues will get hot. Other causes are available...

[TheInternet]

motco said:

Other causes are available...

Sounds like the insulation may be breaking down on an old 13A electric eel.