Prime Members: Addtam 15-Outlet Power Strip w/ 10' Extension Cord

Anyone have a suggestion for a larger capacity power strip like this that I can be reasonably confident won't burn my house down? Thanks 👍

Anyone have a suggestion for a larger capacity power strip like this that I can be reasonably confident won't burn my house down? Thanks 👍

...its far worse than a poor fakespot


Please do not purchase these junk products thinking you will have any sort of surge protection.

A device could be stamped ETL / UL / ... or what have you, in itself that is meaningless

These suspect products are often are stamped as rated and are never submitted for said rating

Inexpensive (kind attribution for crap) are known to be shortcut by companies of no provenance

The rating is only valid if it continues to be manufactured to the standard of the sample submitted

...

Therefore in an SPD, or whatever, you would need to stick with Tripp Lite / APC or a similar manufacture with a vested interest in producing to spec

Your purchase must also come from a legit supply chain

Anyone have a suggestion for a larger capacity power strip like this that I can be reasonably confident won't burn my house down? Thanks

There's this on Amazon. At least it has a safety cert. I agree with most comments. Just asking for trouble with so many outlets on 15A cord. https://www.googleadservices.com/...s=8&adurl=

Add up the amps you are trying to pull from this. Can't be more than 15 in use at the same time. Plus, also account for all other devices you might be plugged into other outlets on the same circuit. Total in use of all those can't be more than than the amperage of the breaker (which in most instances is likely 15 or 20 amp for regular wall outlet circuits).

If you ACTUALLY plug 15 things into this strip and use them all at the same time either the circuit will trip or your house will burn down.

There's a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about such power extenders and strips.

First of all, if the total amount of current being drawn from all the outlets on a given circuit exceeds that circuit's capacity, then the circuit breaker in the wiring panel will trip (or the fuse will burn out if it's an older house) and shut the entire circuit down, to prevent the wires inside the walls from burning and starting a fire. It doesn't matter if they're all plugged into the same extender or strips or spread across multiple wall outlets.

Second, if you exceed this power strip's 15A capacity by plugging in and using devices that combined draw more than 15A, you will trip its internal circuit breaker and your home's circuit breaker won't even factor into it. This is especially important if the circuit that it's plugged into is 20A or more. So I wouldn't worry about overloading this strip as it will handle overloads safely and gracefully--assuming that its circuit breaker is of good quality.

Finally, in situations where you need an extender or strip on a 20A or higher circuit, and there's a good chance that the devices you plug into it might occasionally draw more than 15A, only buy one with a built-in circuit breaker, and if you're foolish enough to not do so, never run these devices when you're not in the room. At least that way you can keep an eye on things and unplug it if you smell or see plastic melting or something burning.

And don't confuse surge protection with overload protection. Not the same thing. Surge protection protects your devices from sudden power surges that go INTO an extender or strip, while overload protection protects it from too much power being drawn FROM it. Nor will plugging this into a GFCI or AFCI outlet necessarily help, as those are designed to handle different kinds of electrical issues. They might help, or they might not. Better to get a unit that has built-in overload protection.

Assuming that it's well-built and does what it says it does, there's little to no chance that you'll burn your house down even if you plug 10 space heaters into it, as it'll shut off as soon as the power draw exceeds 15A or 1875W. And by law no consumer electrical device that uses a standard 2 or 3-prong plug with the hot and neutral prongs flat and parallel to each other and the ground plug round and just below them, can draw more than 15A.

It's when you start plugging multiple high power devices into an extender, strip or extension cord that you run into trouble, if their combined capacity exceeds 15A (or even much less if it's a cheap extender or extension cord that can only handle 10-12A), but still falls short of the 20A or more that would trip the home's circuit breaker. That's why you need to either only use ones with built-in circuit breakers or fuses, or not plug in and use devices that draw more power than they're capable of handling.

Your assuming breakers don't fail. An extreme example, and obvious high power... but interesting to look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_aDvGBgGq4

Here's a controlled test. 60 amps on a 20 amp circuit. Breaker fails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMV1jmDn3o4

Anyone have a suggestion for a larger capacity power strip like this that I can be reasonably confident won't burn my house down? Thanks 👍

If you ACTUALLY plug 15 things into this strip and use them all at the same time either the circuit will trip or your house will burn down.

There's a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about such power extenders and strips.

First of all, if the total amount of current being drawn from all the outlets on a given circuit exceeds that circuit's capacity, then the circuit breaker in the wiring panel will trip (or the fuse will burn out if it's an older house) and shut the entire circuit down, to prevent the wires inside the walls from burning and starting a fire. It doesn't matter if they're all plugged into the same extender or strips or spread across multiple wall outlets.

Second, if you exceed this power strip's 15A capacity by plugging in and using devices that combined draw more than 15A, you will trip its internal circuit breaker and your home's circuit breaker won't even factor into it. This is especially important if the circuit that it's plugged into is 20A or more. So I wouldn't worry about overloading this strip as it will handle overloads safely and gracefully--assuming that its circuit breaker is of good quality.

Finally, in situations where you need an extender or strip on a 20A or higher circuit, and there's a good chance that the devices you plug into it might occasionally draw more than 15A, only buy one with a built-in circuit breaker, and if you're foolish enough to not do so, never run these devices when you're not in the room. At least that way you can keep an eye on things and unplug it if you smell or see plastic melting or something burning.

And don't confuse surge protection with overload protection. Not the same thing. Surge protection protects your devices from sudden power surges that go INTO an extender or strip, while overload protection protects it from too much power being drawn FROM it. Nor will plugging this into a GFCI or AFCI outlet necessarily help, as those are designed to handle different kinds of electrical issues. They might help, or they might not. Better to get a unit that has built-in overload protection.

Assuming that it's well-built and does what it says it does, there's little to no chance that you'll burn your house down even if you plug 10 space heaters into it, as it'll shut off as soon as the power draw exceeds 15A or 1875W. And by law no consumer electrical device that uses a standard 2 or 3-prong plug with the hot and neutral prongs flat and parallel to each other and the ground plug round and just below them, can draw more than 15A.

It's when you start plugging multiple high power devices into an extender, strip or extension cord that you run into trouble, if their combined capacity exceeds 15A (or even much less if it's a cheap extender or extension cord that can only handle 10-12A), but still falls short of the 20A or more that would trip the home's circuit breaker. That's why you need to either only use ones with built-in circuit breakers or fuses, or not plug in and use devices that draw more power than they're capable of handling.

Exactly what I said but in much fewer words.