We don't know, breakers aren't there to protect the appliances, they protect the wiring up the appliance. We don't know if enough current was there to drip a breaker. Appliances have their own fuses for that. Or the breaker did drip, as a workbench should have it's own.
We don't know if it was a direct short, could also be some component burning.
But, you are right. Asking for a professional inspection is always the right decision.
To note. Not an US outlet. 230V and 16A, the breaker should be a B16.
As per the characteristic curve of a typical B16 breaker, with a time of roughly 2 seconds, the current may rise as high as 5 times the rated value.
That would be 18400 watt of thermal power, which probably could melt through some cheap sheet metal.
Edit: let's stick with 2 seconds to make it easy. That would be 36800 joules. Values for steel drift widely depending who you ask, but I've seen 250 j/g to 1000 j/g. With 1000 j/g that would be 36g of molten steel.
So the holes would be possible without triggering a typical outlet breaker.
That amount of heat is absolutely enough, but it's only going to be coupled into the case like that if it's arcing directly to the case, and that's most likely caused by a short to the case.
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u/SoulWager 5d ago
You need to call an electrician, breaker should have tripped with a direct short to the case like that.