Power strips (Read 1141 times)

hvybarrels

Power strips
« on: September 04, 2022, 12:40:45 PM »
Had a power outage last night which caused a voltage spike that fried one of my surge protectors. Luckily all my sensitive equipment is okay but it raises the point that with more frequent power disruptions from an increasingly unreliable grid and shortages of electrical workers we have an exponentially increased risk of destroying sensitive electronics and causing electrical fires.

Replace all your old power strips with surge protectors and keep your computers on a backup battery that will give you time to shut things down so your data does not get lost.

“Wars happen when the government tells you who the enemy is. Revolutions happen when you figure it out for yourselves.”

Flapp_Jackson

Re: Power strips
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2022, 05:33:10 PM »
In addition....

A battery back (UPS) not only protects against a power outage, but in most areas, brown-outs or hiccups happen even more often.  An UPS can protect against a few seconds of line voltage dropping, surging, or just turning "dirty" (dirty power is common in many countries and wreak havoc on electronics).

Also, those batteries don't last long if they switch over due to lack of AC power.  One might last years with no outages, and another less than a year with frequent outages.  Getting replacement batteries shipped here is problematic.

I like to get my UPS units from Costco when they have them.  When the battery is no longer holding a charge, I get a full refund and can buy another.

 :thumbsup:
"How can you diagnose someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder
and then act as though I had some choice about barging in?"
-- Melvin Udall

Rocky

Re: Power strips
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2022, 12:03:18 PM »
Four years ago from tomorrow, I had a garage fire.
X marks the spot where the strip was located.
Mind, this is the result even when I had a fire x and water on it within 70 seconds of alarm.



   Fire chief and inspector both told me these power stri[p's are A COMMON CAUSE OF FIRES.  :shake:
The fuses/relay/gfi components are located between where the cord comes into the unit before any outlet.
This component heats up and though the power strip itself may be fire resistant, whatever it sits on is probably not.
The component gets so hot that it combusts what is beneath it, in my case pegboard and the starts a fire to further degrade power strip.



   Told me IF I choose to continue to use power strrips, be sure they are metal and are sitting on top of noncombustible material
« Last Edit: September 10, 2022, 12:14:45 PM by Rocky »
“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”
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Lihikai

Re: Power strips
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2022, 03:57:19 PM »
One way to prevent common electrical fires is to install arc-fault breakers or receptacles.   Not hard to do.  Some people don't like them because of nuisance tripping, but still worth the protection it offers.