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Following my smart bulb oddness I reckon this might be the cause of it!
Shall I just buy another double socket and insulate the cable or does it need further investigation by someone that knows what they are doing?
shit that looks like you have narrowly avoided a fire. I'd get a professional in if I saw that (and I do alot of my own electrics)
Loose wires cause fires!
You’ve only got about an inch of decent insulation on both neutrals so the the best solution would be get the floor board below it up and try and pull some more cable into the box to re terminate it. If that’s not possible then cut both neutrals back to good and use some inline connectors (not choc blocks!) and add some short pieces in.
Then go round and check all the others as a wickes own brand socket screams diyer job
Is that how it came out or have you been undoing things ?
If it came out like that it looks like a loose connection causing over heat.*
But given your asking on here it would be prudent to get a pro in for a second in the flesh opinion .
* Not a spark
Mouse droppings in there too?? Or is it burnt wire insulation?
The wire was loose when I took the front off.
Is there a way to make it safe so that we can turn the sockets back on?
Off on holidays so won’t be able to get a sparks in anytime soon.
bascially what mark said. Even if you remove the outlet you will need to complete the loop for the circuit to work. Thise wires are fubared so need cutting back and then extending. If you are doing that you may as well fit a new outlet
Stuff like this makes me scared! I have a junction box on the upstairs lighting circuit that looks like spaghetti and I really should sort it....don't know where half the wires even go!
Last time I removed some suspect wires it turned out they were powering an ancient alarm, that then ran out of battery at 3am, and the only way I could stop the thing was to smash it off the wall of the house with a hammer.
Nip to B&Q and pick up some push in connectors (like wago- look it up). I think the brand is Ideal. Connect live to live, neutral to neutral, earth to earth. They should make a temporary safe fix but you'll be left without a socket until you can sort it properly. MK do a lovely dual socket that uses similar push in connectors.
If you can't pull up more cable you could strip off the blackened insulation and replace it with heat shrink insulation. The copper is unlikely to be damaged.
The screw that holds the black wire was really tight , so I'm assuming the loose wire hasn't come loose and was never connected.
I’m assuming the loose wire hasn’t come loose and was never connected
Both wires will have been pushed into the same connector, just straight not twisted, and the screw has only tightened on one and push the other to the side, so it fell out.
Have fitted the push connectors ,insulated ,removed plug front and my plug circuit tester thing says all is ok.
Sparks contacted.
If you are away it might be an idea to leave the circuit off / isolated if it isn’t powering anything essential like a freezer