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I've bought and installed a double socket plug with two USB ports.

I'm not an electrician by any stretch of the imagination but the socket is correctly wired,the wires and firmly atached to the right places and the both sockets and USB ports work. I also have a very sensitive RCD device.

When I plug one particular thing in, an iron, the on/off rocker switch on the plug can be seen to spark within the plug housing when I switch it off. The RCD doesn't trip, the iron works, all seems well. This doesn't seem right to me but is it a thing I should be concerned about or is it just a thing?

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It's not uncommon to get a spark when contacts are made or unmade. Just that they are usually not able to be seen.
How/where are you seeing the spark?

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An iron takes a couple of kilowatts or so, a reasonably heavy current to be switching and is about 8 amps.
W = V x I (Watts = Volts times Amps) so I = 2000/240. A simple contact switch such as you will find in a wall socket is nothing but a couple of metal contacts inside an insulated protective structure and you would expect a little spark under the circumstances.

The spark occurs at the contacts inside the switch protected by its insulation, so there is no danger to you, and there would be no reason for it to trip a leakage current breaker.

Why would a mains wall socket have 2 USB ports? Sounds a little odd. Are these ports for charging devices? But in any case it's probably made in China and a relatively cheap item (at a guess). Cheap Chinese electrical items are not made the way they are made in Britain. We go for heavy engineering overkill. The Chinese go for the cheapest possible plasticky bits stuck together with a bit of glue.

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Thanks all

As Paw says charging points for the many devices we have in the house. At least 7 that need regular charging.

The unit is British from Screwfix. I see the spark when I turn the iron off but before unplugging it.

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Like these

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If you purchased from Screwfix then it's probably LAP brand which, although usable, are not the best quality. At the price I would also suspect that they are not British made.

As others have said there is no danger to you but repeated sparking on switch on/off will probably eventually lead to the contacts of the switch deteriorating due to the arcing.

Best practice would be to switch the iron off on the iron (maybe by turning the temperature dial to 0) before you switch off at the socket, you should not then notice any sparking.

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Thanks. The iron doesn't have a separate on/off switch so it's the plug rocker switch that turns it on.

Screwfix weren't offering those shown in Heredotus' post - smarter than my unit. The answer is probably a more expensive plug.

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Problem solved.

You are right. Just tried it and it doesn't spark.

Thank you.

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AirPods
plus several other Macs around the house

I wouldn't worry to much and I see you have solved the problem. This is common with appliances that consume a lot of energy. It can happen with any switch though and that is why you should never use a one if you smell gas.

You will mostly see this when its dark and the spark will be brighter.


Gary.

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Gary.

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Original iPad wifi