Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Can a surge protector cause a house fire?

The answer is yes, as I almost learned the hard way. I'm posting this with the intent that someone might benefit from it.

Yesterday my wife and I were in the kitchen area drinking coffee when we heard a popping noise in the basement living room. It wasn't that loud, I might have ignored it. But she went to investigate. Then she called me in a near panic.

There was a flame about 8 inches long lapping up the wall from an electrical outlet. After I extinguished it, here's what I found.

First, the space heater was turned off when this happened. It has been plugged into that outlet all winter, but its switch was in the OFF position. Second, the circuit breaker did its job. What was burning was the plastic housing of the surge protector.

We have a Radio Shack brand surge protector. It was plugged into a 110V outlet, and plugged into it was a TV, a stereo, and an electric space heater. Where the the heater plug was plugged into the surge protector there was melted plastic.

So, I took it to work today (I work in an oil refinery) and showed it to two electricians and an electrical engineer. They took the surge protector apart and placed blame on a loose connection inside that most likely caused an arc. The surge protector is rated for 15 amp and the space heater for 12.5, so this shouldn't have happened. But it did.

They all agreed that in spite of the ratings involved, that it's not a good idea to plug anything that pulls much current at all into one of these devices.

About 15 years ago I had an indirect lightning strike do about $2,000 in damage to appliances and I've been a believer in surge protectors since.


The electrical engineer told me he didn't use them as they were placing one more thing in line to go wrong. He said they might protect device such as a TV from a power surge from the utility company, but it's unlikely that they would do anything for a lightning strike.

Anyone else every hear of this happening?

Glad it worked out OK for you. thanks for posting. It doesnt seem to have been the problem in your case, however I am a firm believer in keeping space heaters on their own dedicated circuit (if run @ 110v).

Yes it surely can! We had a problem with the PC a month ago and the surge protector heated up and I smelled smoke. We replaced everything including the PC.

I only use Isobar Trip-Lite or APC, both excellent quality with warranted protection for damage caused if anything should go wrong due to defect or material used. You have to keep careful watch of what each plug is rated and used for, some plugs are not for full capacity.


Phil

Informative post. Did your electricians think there was a connection to China?

They didn't comment on that, but the surge protector is sure labeled "Made in China". Wonder if you can even buy one that's not?

There are surge protectors and there are surge protectors.

Just curious- at any time during the life of this protector was more than one of those three items on at the same time? I had one of the cheaper models melt down in similar fashion- it didn't rear its ugly head until it had been in use for some time, and the items plugged into it were very near (but not over) its amperage limit.

Chinese surge protection is worth less than what you likely paid (obviously, and equally obvious is this wasn't a "surge"). Quality whole house protection at your service panel is the only real answer for true surge protection.

My old man always taught me to never use an extension cord (surge suppressor was before his time) of any kind for anything with a motor or heating element if it's going to be unattended.

Window fans, especially those made in China are notorious for causing fires.

Had a 20" fan seize up while running just a couple weeks ago. It was made in China, but wasn't cheap or I thought... lasted through 1 summer before burning out.

I don't ever leave these items plugged in when away from home.


Phil

What's a good brand Steelhead? I sure wouldn't mind paying a few bucks more.

one thing I've heard is that if a surge suppressor is tripped a couple times you should toss it as it won't work as intended after tripping. Anyone know it that's true? I'm talking about the cheaper ones you get at Radio Shack or Wally World, Not APC level.

I know a guy that plugged a couple of small freezers into a surge protector. Another real bad idea.

Had a big surge several years ago during a lightning storm. Cooked my garage door opener. We had recently updated our tv and pc and bought top of the line surge protectors at Circuit City. They were expensive. TV was okay but the pc was dust. Our son the electrician said that without the surge protectors it would have been worse. By the way, the surge protector for the tv also went to heaven that night.
My son believes in surge protectors (good ones) for the pc and tv due to the number of accessories plugged in. Every thing else is one on one with the outlets. No extention cords in the house.

Your utility company should at least have a distribution class arrester on the pole right beside the transformer feeding your home. The transformer on the pole feeding my home was hit by lightning last year and they never replaced the failed (one shot) arrester. Personally, I would never plug anything other than electronic devices into a strip surge arrester.

Had a lot of them at work on computing equipment and all the sudden one day our suppleir recalled a bunch of them. The reason they could cause fires.

creative mountings are also a bad idea:



courtesy of the previous homeowner. It only shocked me, no fire...

I had exactly the same thing happen to one in our office. I went back to the manufacturer who of course imported from China. The manufacturer would never respond. I'm a EE & when lighting/surge protection first came on the scene I represented the largest manufacturer of industrial products. Many consumers believe that by going to the local mart & purchasing a cheap surge protector they protect sensitive electronic devices. Totally wrong. Lighting/surge protection is at least a two tiered installation in a residence & perhaps 3 or 4 in large office buildings & manufacturing plants. The best installation is a lightning/surge protector panel connected to the mains of your load center with a quality ground. Mine has fuse protection & indicator lights that show which line failed. Then I have the highest Joule rated plug-in lightning/surge protectors connected to electronic devises. Usually, computer stores are the best source for quality lightning/surge protection. In large metropolitan areas as utilities switch transformers in & out of the system switching surges result. These are very damaging to sensitive electronic devises & are usually cumulative. With a direct lightning strike millions of amps may flow & nothing I know will totally protect a electrical system in this case. Lightning strikes being radiated on the power lines either over head or under ground are protected by properly designed lightning/surge protectors. Incidentally, under ground lines are more susceptible to lightning surges being radiated than over head lines. There is no where for the lightning surge to go, but to the transformers or incoming services. Expect to pay from $150-400 for a panel protector & $100-150 for quality high Joule plug-in protectors.

Chinese electrical prodects should Never be left unattended.
Google CFL fires )

The UL label to them is just a marketing ploy and means NOTHING was tested.

My thoughts as well. If the heater wasn't switched on, it isn't drawing any amps. Thats not saying that the internals weren't damaged previously though due to too many amps, and the fire was a result of the previously damaged components?

I'm just an ME though, not an EE.