ChrisP wrote:

The house has been rewired, I'm just not sure when.

Thinks like a whole house RCD would date it to somewhere early 80's
(like the place we just moved into)

The offending socket has been used fine, including a vaccum cleaner
which i think consume a fair number of watts.

With a TN-S or TN-C-S earth, then it probably would work ok... not good
though!

I've checked a few more sockets and found loose wires where spurs
(sometimes more than one!) have been added. Just looks like a bad DIY
by the previous owners I can rectify myself.

Loose wires are not uncommon on older installs. It would probably be
worth the tedium of taking off every faceplate and tightening as
required and carrying out a visual inspection as you go.



--
Cheers,

John.

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