Power strips and the danger they can present to your home if not used correctly

Too few outlets and too many electronic devices, it's a problem many of us run into. The solution: multi-plug power strips. But after a deadly fire this weekend, one electrician is warning renters and homeowners power strips can be dangerous.

That two-alarm fire broke out early Sunday morning on Highland Ave. in Fitchburg and resulted in the death of two people, neither of whom have been identified yet. The cause of the fire has not been officially announced, but fire officials did suggest a possible contributor, something you might find in almost any apartment or home.

They enable our entangled modern life and they are the bane of Joshua Page’s professional existence.

“These plug strips are just, they're just awful,” said Page, who works at Ruell Electric. “Whenever I see them, I tell everyone [to] get rid of them.”

Plug strips, also called power strips, channel electricity to multiple devices off a single outlet. Page says that, too often, they're dangerously misused.

“You've got all these entertainment centers and video game consoles and space heaters and all this stuff has got major loads that want to be pulled,” he said. “They want to use a lot of amperage.”

If all that energy has to move through a power strip, it can overheat.

“We were called out on an emergency call in Westminster a few years ago, and they had some power issues and fluctuating voltages,” Page said. “And when my electrician got out there, he found a plug strip a half-inch burned into the wooden floor underneath the couch. The homeowner didn’t even know.”

“If it truly is overloading, the fuse and circuit breaker should do their job,” he added. “But if they don't then that's what's going to start the fires.”

So is there ever a safe way to use a power strip? The answer is yes, if the devices connected to it are drawing a low amount of power, such as a computer. The problem is most of us are not electricians, so we have no idea how much power a given device is drawing. But Page says homeowners who insist on using power strips should at least remember this rule:

“Just because it has 10 spots to plug in does not mean you should use all 10,” he said. “You know maybe one or two.”

But, again, two plugs or ten, those strips are not designed for devices that draw high power. Page says an added danger around Fitchburg is that many of the houses still have what amounts to ancient wiring with what is known as knob and tube.

The safest course of action for homeowners, he says, is to have more wall plugs installed and to rewire the house if necessary.

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