sen8or: Standard 10 amp socket should be good for around 4kw of power drain before tripping the circuit breaker / fuse (I think its 4.4 but could be mistaken). If old style house (with ceramic fuses and fuse wire), double check what gauge the fuse wire is, should be 10 or 16 amp, if a MCB, check rating, again likely to be 10 or 16 Even with commercial / office installations, the run multiple circuits off the one MCB (i.e. a wall of sockets is only likely to feed back to a handful of breakers) as PCs and other normal office equipment doesn't draw much load

Nice one - I appreciate the advice and thanks for taking the time to reply. 

andrewNZ: Daisy chaining is never great, maybe this board instead.
You're not coming close to max load. I'd be genuinely surprised if you draw more than 1000w (4ish amps).

I'd expect your PC's to draw maybe 250-300W fully loaded probably only 100-150w most of the time.
Lamps are stuff all, and could be totally insignificant if you put LED lamps in them.
Monitors are probably going to draw less than the desk lamps
Printer is part time load and is insignificant.

I'd recommend against changing the sockets yourself. Despite how easy it seams, old houses can have some nasty traps, including wiring that falls apart when disturbed.

Nice one - I appreciate the advice and thanks for taking the time to reply and yep I think I will use LED in the lamps and thanks too for the suggestion of the board. 

@RolemasterGM - being in a similar boat to you in terms of an old house and limited AC outlets, I've got a couple of power boards around the place too but not daisy chained as, fortunately, I don't need to. When purchasing I was wary of cheap stuff so went for this more expensive one (not hyper expensive) for my entertainment unit which had the benefit of adding a couple of USB sockets. I got the 6 socket version for my network.

RolemasterGM:

 

sen8or: Standard 10 amp socket should be good for around 4kw of power drain before tripping the circuit breaker / fuse (I think its 4.4 but could be mistaken). If old style house (with ceramic fuses and fuse wire), double check what gauge the fuse wire is, should be 10 or 16 amp, if a MCB, check rating, again likely to be 10 or 16 Even with commercial / office installations, the run multiple circuits off the one MCB (i.e. a wall of sockets is only likely to feed back to a handful of breakers) as PCs and other normal office equipment doesn't draw much load

 

 

 

Nice one - I appreciate the advice and thanks for taking the time to reply. 

 

This post had been set as the answer to this thread. Apologies in advance for all caps but IF YOU DRAW 4kW FROM A STANDARD 10 AMP OUTLET YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY START A FIRE. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. DO NOT DO IT.

4KW is about 17A, which is way over the 10A rating of most wall sockets!

As RunningMan advised DO NOT DO THIS!

RunningMan:

RolemasterGM:

sen8or: Standard 10 amp socket should be good for around 4kw of power drain before tripping the circuit breaker / fuse (I think its 4.4 but could be mistaken). If old style house (with ceramic fuses and fuse wire), double check what gauge the fuse wire is, should be 10 or 16 amp, if a MCB, check rating, again likely to be 10 or 16 Even with commercial / office installations, the run multiple circuits off the one MCB (i.e. a wall of sockets is only likely to feed back to a handful of breakers) as PCs and other normal office equipment doesn't draw much load

 

Nice one - I appreciate the advice and thanks for taking the time to reply. 

This post had been set as the answer to this thread. Apologies in advance for all caps but IF YOU DRAW 4kW FROM A STANDARD 10 AMP OUTLET YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY START A FIRE. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. DO NOT DO IT.

Bung:

 

If this is going to trigger the end of the world can you explain why a 15 Amp socket only differs in the size of the earth/ground pin?
The current carrying pins are the same as the 10 Amp socket.

Because the area of the pin is plenty, but they needed a key to stop the high draw things going into sockets that were not built to have enough contact area, and to stop people using 1mm extension cords with those loads.

A quality socket will take a considerable overload with no problems when it is in good condition. Unfortunately houses do not have electrical WOFs like portable buildings to make sure that things are still ok, and the dire state of many rentals electrics is something that IMO should have been tackled rather than the BS insulation topups that the govt has made people do.

Plenty of 70s houses out there with origional PDL sockets with the little flappy switch that barely connects and opened out metal that just touches the pins enough when its held at the right angle. Still earlier houses with the TRS cable in place, rewirable fuses and one socket per room if you're lucky. Overload one of those and watch it burn.

Overload a new 600 series socket with a 20 amp welder with the plug changed and the plug will barely get warm. While its new.

Brunzy: I wouldn’t worry too much, as regardless of what you add, when it gets too much it will trip the breaker/blow the fuse .

Er...no. That's how fires start. Overloading.

It isn't too much, but if you plugged in say a heater, vacuum cleaner or freezer or such, then it could be. And it doesn'r always trip.

Aredwood: Could also be the load side of 2 different MCBs linked together. Meaning that you wont be able to trace which MCB feeds that socket, solely by turning off the MCBs 1 at a time.

It might also be fed from the hot water cylinder circuit, or an old nightstore heater circuit. Especially if those loads are supplied by a separate meter that is billed at a cheaper rate.