Surge protectors or fire hazard

From: Matthew Sell <msell_at_ontimesupport.com>
Date: Fri Dec 20 14:08:00 2002

You should *never* buy a plastic multi-outlet strip that has surge
protection built-in.

There have been many documented cases of these starting fires when the
surge-suppression MOVs burst into flames and then set the plastic casing of
the strip on fire.

I can't remember the TV program, but it was shown on TV where a strip was
given the equivalent of a typical surge from a nearby lightning strike, and
then the strip caught fire (quickly).

Whatever you believe about this issue, you should play it safe and only use
surge-protected outlet strips that have a metal casing. My house, contents,
and my families lives (including our pets) are certainly worth the extra
$10 or $20.

Plastic outlet strips are part of a terrorist plot to destroy our
lives..... : )




         - Matt





At 01:54 PM 12/20/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>I've never had a problem with surge bars. I mostly try to use high-quality
>ones, like Isobars; there're expensive, but worth it. I once plugged a cheap
>stereo into one that also had a Sun Ultra2 w/ some external disks and a
>monitor plugged in; the stereo shorted one outlet, which let out magic smoke
>and a bunch of sparks, and the Sun kept running along with no hiccups at
>all... I continued to use the bar, too, just avoiding the 2 outlets that were
>effected by the short (they looked kind of black and yucky afterwards).
>Heftly isolation filters between every pair of outlets and a heavy metal case
>work wonders :)
>
>Dwight K. Elvey said:
> > >To: cctalk_at_classiccmp.org
> > >
> > >> I've just seen the third surge protector blow
> > >>up and this time, it almost started a real fire.
> > >
> > >
> > >> I wonder if any of the fire prevention groups are
> > >>looking into these time bombs?
> > >
> > >
> > >Are you buying units that are UL approved?
> >
> > Are you kidding, I don't think I've ever seen
> > one without a UL sticker.
> >
> > >
> > >When I blow up power strips so far all I get are sparks and a very small
> > >puff of smoke.
> >
> > This is what the metal ones do ( at least the two I've seen go ).
> > It was a plastic one that caused the troubles. When I've looked
> > in the metal ones, I've never seen a separate fuse. I don't
> > know what the plastic one had, it is a melted mess.
> > Dwight
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>- Dan Wright
>(dtwright_at_uiuc.edu)
>(http://www.uiuc.edu/~dtwright)
>
>-] ------------------------------ [-] -------------------------------- [-
>``Weave a circle round him thrice, / And close your eyes with holy dread,
> For he on honeydew hath fed, / and drunk the milk of Paradise.''
> Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan



Matthew Sell
Programmer
On Time Support, Inc.
www.ontimesupport.com
(281) 296-6066

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