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Near Disaster Tonight

jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I turned off the TV and went up to bed about 30 minutes ago. As I got to the top of the stairs, I smelled burnt plastic. I went into the spare bedroom where I have a bunch of tanks and found the power strip I was using on one set of tanks had failed. The carpet is burned and there was some burn on the baseboard.

No permanent damage except a 4" circle on the carpet. I have the wonderful smell to deal with as well.

Needless to say, I'm a little freaked out that the house could have caught on fire. I've got to figure out a better way to power the tanks....




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chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
WOW! I'm so glad that nothing worse happened!

I'm sure that many of us are set up the same way.....does anyone have a better way to set up? What should we be careful of?
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Not good

I think you might want to send the unit back to Belkin with a note letting them know that you are less than pleased. I've always just used whatever cheap power strips I could find but am now thinking that won't do, more so as as most of mine are maxed out what with extension cords and triple adaptors running more applications than there are plugs in the strip.

Must be a Consumer Reports review of power strips out there somewhere...
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I'm going to look into more industrial type power strips. The one that failed was the least expensive I could find at the time. Maybe it is a case of getting what I paid for.

I'm also going to spread out the load. Too much stuff plugged in.
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Shouldn't happen

These things are supposed to be designed/built to prevent ignition/meltdowns meaning you bought/were sold a defective unit.

http://cs.cpsc.gov/ConceptDemo/SearchCPSC.aspx?autodisplay=true&query=power+strip+belkin

Several reports on the web about defective Belkin units and one federal CPSC recall of their surge protectors. They claim to have lifetime warranty for these products - and to have reworked the design.

In 1996, electrical cords and plugs were involved in about 7,100 fires resulting in 120 deaths or about 32 percent of all deaths associated with residential electrical system fires. In 1997, more than 12,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for electrical burns and shocks and about 2,500 people were treated for injuries associated with extension cords. - from CPSC 1999 report (some improvement since then but still a serious issue)

You may have dodged a bullet there friend...
 
msjinkzd

msjinkzd

invert junkie
They sell some really cool surge protectors- I have some that are 8' long. I am glad that your home did not catch on fire!!

I mount mine (I only have 3 or so still in service) underneath my racks so that the outlets are facing down and there is a drip loop from any cords.
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I certainly did dodge a bullet. Scary stuff. I'm going to replace the ones I have in service tonight.
 
fischfan13

fischfan13

Banned
Jon, things could have been worse. Thank goodness you and your family are ok.

I would send the strip back and ask if Belkin would mind examining the strip.
Before you purchase another strip see if there was anything you might have done wrong. Look to see if water could have entered one of the outlets, maybe via drip or splash. Check the surface area where the strip was on too.

As for getting a new strip...
Jehmco used to carry these, but I think they discontinued carry strips.
Don't go cheap...do your homework.
 
F

Fraviz

Members
You are lucky ... things could have gone worse.......
I over charge mine too... but try to keep them out of the floor...
 
YSS

YSS

Members
That is crazy. Good thing there was no other damage. I just had my cheap light fixture start smoking when I turned the unit on. It could definitely have caught on fire if this happened when no one was home. We can't really go cheap on our equipment. I am not buying anymore cheap stuff. It's scary what could happen.
 
rich_one

rich_one

Members
Cheap or not cheap, isn't the whole point of those things to prevent that from happening? Holy cow, man... glad you caught that in time!

-Rich
 
CichlidOWNR

CichlidOWNR

Members
Glad to see that disaster was averted. Very Scary.

While the following may not have any bearing on a strip going up in flames, I use a extension cord that contains a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (got from a big box hardware store) between my power strip and wall socket since it is near water. At least this will trip to help protect against shocks. Again, it may not prevent a strip going into flames but wanted to share my set up for anybody that may be interested.
 
QuarterMiler

QuarterMiler

Members
Wow, I'm glad it turned out OK, could have been much worse! I need to check out my strips, I think I have one similar to that. If so, I will be replacing it ASAP.
 
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