Two sockets in kitchen with all appliances plugged in!

Hi everyone. 

I'm new to the forum, so just getting a feel for where everything is.

My query is related to my kitchen. There are two double plug sockets in our kitchen - one by the skirting and one above our work surface. Until recently, we have used the socket near the skirting for our fridge freezer (plugged in directly) and our Hotpoint washing machine plus a Beko dryer (using an extension lead). I realise alarm bells are probably ringing for all of you, but we haven't been able to afford a new socket to be added so we continued using this set up.

After buying the Beko dryer a few weeks ago, the extension lead started showing signs of overheating (the plug at the socket started to go slightly brown) so we have removed the extension lead and are plugging the washing machine and dryer into the main socket directly as and when we need it. With a large family, this is causing issues as we usually have both going at the same time. So my question is:

- are there any extension leads that cater for excessive loads, but are safe?

- the other socket above the work surface cannot be accessed from underneath and the plugs on the machines are moulded. Is there anything you can suggest we do to get around this and maybe utilise that socket?

- should we only allow the fridge freezer to be plugged into the socket by the skirting and nothing else?

- as this has started only since we bought our Beko dryer, should we be looking into a separate problem with this unit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to ensure the kitchen is safe, so if it means keep unplugging the dryer and the washing machine, so be it.

Many thanks for reading.

A tumble dryer will pull near enough the full capacity of the extension lead... It's recommended that you always plug in large loads such as a tumble dryer, washing machine, kettle, toaster etc directly into a wall socket... and a double socket should only really supply one high load as they're usually only rated to a maximum of 20A between the two sockets

Answering your questions in order

No

Cut the plug off, feed the flex through a small hole and wire a plug onto it

A fridge freezer is a relatively small load,, you could plug it in via an extension lead without any problem

It's extremely unlikely that there is any problem with your new dryer

TBH it'd be far better if you had another socket fitted for the dryer

NozSpark said:

A tumble dryer will pull near enough the full capacity of the extension lead... It's recommended that you always plug in large loads such as a tumble dryer, washing machine, kettle, toaster etc directly into a wall socket... and a double socket should only really supply one high load as they're usually only rated to a maximum of 20A between the two sockets

Answering your questions in order

No

Cut the plug off, feed the flex through a small hole and wire a plug onto it

A fridge freezer is a relatively small load,, you could plug it in via an extension lead without any problem

It's extremely unlikely that there is any problem with your new dryer

TBH it'd be far better if you had another socket fitted for the dryer

Click to expand...

Thank you very much, NozSpark. I've been looking around at the cost of a new socket. We'll probably do that instead.