topic 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip in Community Chat

10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

SeaMaiden — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 16:50:27 GMT

Even though some of these might seem obvious to many of us, even if it saves one person from having a fire I wanted to share this with everyone.

https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/10-things-never-to-plug-into-a-power-strip-52043#refrigerators-and-freezers

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

Nightowlz — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 17:09:42 GMT

I'm glad we have enough outlets in the house that we don't have to use one of those.

DH did have an Appliance rated extension cord on our freezer in the garage for years. One day I thought I smelled something burning & told DH. He looked around & could not find anything. I kept smelling it. He said he could not smell anything.

To make a long story short that freezer quit working so had to buy a new one. DH had already unplugged the old one & moved it so they could put the new one there when they delivered it.

The extension cord on it had slowly been burning & sealing the burn place back up for who knows how long.

Good thing that freezer quit working or our house could have burned down.

Next time I think I smell something burning we will be finding the source.

We moved things around in the garage so no extension cord on the freezer.

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

SeaMaiden — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 18:25:19 GMT

Another great tip is that IF YOU DO BUY A NEW POWERSTRIP... Know that you pay for quality not price. They sell them at discount stores... big lots... and even the dollar store... these are not quality power strips and not approved with the approval seal( even if they say they are approved it is usually false made in China junk.

You pay for what you buy when it comes to a power strip and thing like that for your safety.

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

RoughDraft — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 18:58:19 GMT

DH is an electrician and an A/C man. Our electrical system is wired in such a way that each of the appliances listed has their own individual breakers. Otherwise, every time the refrigerator, toaster, microwave, etc. would be used together appliances would be blowing.

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

JBKO — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:20:23 GMT

Thank you so much for this! I currently use a power strip to charge my phone and my skin care gagdets.

About a year ago I plugged a facial steamer into the power strip--I'm such a skin care junkie. Anyway it looked to not be working (I was going to use the cold steam) so i figured it was time to buy a new one. I never unplugged it and a few minutes later I saw this pretty lilac color coming from the coil that would heat the hot water. I picked up the steamer and noticed that it was a flame! Thank God I was still in the room and had a water bottle on my night table so I quickly put out the fire. If I had left my room (which I very likely would have), it would have been engulfed in flames. I later read the tag on the cord and it advised against using the steamer on a power strip.

Stay safe everyone!

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

chickenbutt — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:25:25 GMT

@SeaMaiden wrote:
Another great tip is that IF YOU DO BUY A NEW POWERSTRIP... Know that you pay for quality not price. They sell them at discount stores... big lots... and even the dollar store... these are not quality power strips and not approved with the approval seal( even if they say they are approved it is usually false made in China junk.

You pay for what you buy when it comes to a power strip and thing like that for your safety.

^^^ This bears repeating! It is profoundly important.

As to the list, I couldn't imagine plugging any of those things into a powerstrip/usb anyway. Hard to imagine anybody would. But it's good for people to learn more about such things if they are inexperienced.

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

SeaMaiden — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 20:59:29 GMT

@RoughDraft wrote:
DH is an electrician and an A/C man. Our electrical system is wired in such a way that each of the appliances listed has their own individual breakers. Otherwise, every time the refrigerator, toaster, microwave, etc. would be used together appliances would be blowing.

@RoughDraft That must be nice to have your DH be able to fix things for your home! How nice!

Re: 10 Things Never to Plug into a Power Strip

RoughDraft — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 21:26:02 GMT

@SeaMaiden wrote:
@RoughDraft wrote:
DH is an electrician and an A/C man. Our electrical system is wired in such a way that each of the appliances listed has their own individual breakers. Otherwise, every time the refrigerator, toaster, microwave, etc. would be used together appliances would be blowing.
@RoughDraft That must be nice to have your DH be able to fix things for your home! How nice!

And I appreciate it every day, believe me.