How to tell if a power strip is burned out?

Personally, I would either toss it, or down grade it to outdoor use only. I wouldn’t take a chance with it in the house.

Yes, you can let it cool down, then test it again. But a failure is a failure. Does it have a reset button? What price range did you pay?

@SpatzieLover It is a heavy duty strip, but yes, it seems to have failed or burned out. It does not want to reset. The light flashes on the switch but the switch itself is frozen. Yep, it’s trash. I am on the 3rd of electrical failures this last few weeks. Had a bathroom switch replaced, a new battery for my car and now the power strip failure. What is it with blondes and electricity anyway? lol

Wow and Mercury isn’t in Retrograde yet ;)

Maybe you should stay away from electricity for a week or so?~

We have learned that unless we need them, it’s better to just keep a few cheap surge strips on hand. We use them for outdoor decorating/lights, too so we need more than the average home. But, when it’s for a computer or our tortoise’s lights we shell out more dough.

I’m betting it was the space heater that made this one fail. I’d probably plug the space heater into it’s own surge strip to be safe.

A space heater does not need a surge protector, but if you need the extra outlets just a heavy duty power strip will do.

Hey, great news, a friend is coming over to bring me dinner and a power strip, I do not have to go out after all and can keep “working” minus one light. :-)
@RocketGuy Thanks for that info. I figured this one was safe but it must have just been old, I have been using it forever, probably at least 5–6 years. It finally died and is now in the power strip bone yard. lol

Space heaters are a tremendous load on power. I had one that used to dim the lights in the house when it kicked on. (I got rid of it when I found out I could have really caused a problem, like a fire.)

@zenvelo Hmmm..this is a brand new Duraflame space heater that heats 400sq. feet. I now have it plugged into the wall outlet and will only use a power strip for the extra lamp. Is this a good plan of action?

“How to tell if a power strip is burned out?”

@Coloma You describe the following symptoms:
1. All 6 outlets shut off at once.
2. The strip was “very hot” all the way back to its plug.
3. The power light doesn’t come on.
4. The switch is frozen.
5. It does not reset. [per later post]

You should photograph it and make it the poster child for burned out power strips.

@SpatzieLover: If it’s not safe to use inside a house then I wouldn’t consider it safe to use outdoors, either—still a fire risk. But I totally agree that the space heater is the culprit.

Power strips are usually rated at 15A so space heaters, typically 1500W like hair driers, use up most of that allowance. It’s the equivalent of powering 10 or 12 televisions at once. The best strategy is to connect heating devices directly to the wall outlet & use power strips only for convenience in powering a group of low-wattage devices like a computer system. If the cord doesn’t reach use a dedicated extension cord of maximum thickness and minimum length, or use a power strip with nothing else plugged into it.

A power strip has an electrical resistance R that’s small but not zero, so there’s resistive heating inside its wiring. The formula is I^2R (I-squared R) where I is current, which shows that at a fixed resistance heating is proportional to the square of the current. Triple the strip’s load, heating increases by a factor of 9. Respect any device whose purpose is to heat.

@Coloma I’d worry a little about the wall outlet and in-wall wiring, particularly since everything got so hot. Hopefully the power strip sacrificed itself to protect the house wiring – that’s the code, lol. I suggest plugging the heater into the wall as a test, even if the cord doesn’t normally reach. Run it for a while & check to see if the outlet is more than just a little warm. If so, call an electrician.

@gasman Thanks for the wealth of info. !!!
Okay…the heater has been plugged into and running from the wall outlet for an hour now and the outlet/plug is warm but not hot. I will keep checking periodically. I do not leave it running at night or when I am not home, sooo, that should make it safer I guess.
Haha..the poster child for failed power strip…yep, that seems right on. :-)