Originally posted by Misguided Russian
So plugging into electric socket is ideal, but if not possible:
So then it seems that the biggest risk comes from cheap power strips, where the power strip uses wiring of a thinner gauge than whats in the socket. Therefore the power going through the power strip (which would not give indications of a problem, because the current through the power strip will adequately power devices; although heating the wire) would eventually melt/burn the wire due to being overloaded. Yes?
Plug appliances / high-power devices straight into the wall outlet unless it's something temporary/portable. Yeah inadequate cords are still functional when overloaded but the insulation can only take so much heat before being damaged.
So then so far, from socket to device on extension cord, all is good as long as the extension cord is rated above the power draw of plugged in device.
It
should be, if you are just using the one cord/power-strip and not chaining multiple together. In general, extension cords are for temporary use. If you need it longer term than temporarily then there probably isn't a permanent receptacle close enough to your device and one should be installed. Most powerful pieces of equipment will come with instructions not to use it with extension cords or they will list acceptable length/wire-size combinations.
Then, should you need more sockets, a surge protector power strip is ideal to protect devices from power surge from thunder storms or whatever. The ideal setup would be a surge protector power strip with a long cord instead of using an extension cord in conjunction with a protected power strip. It is my understanding that using an extension cord in this situation is less ideal because 1) its possible to use an extension cord with too thin of wiring, and 2) the physical connections between extension cord power strip are technically vulnerable to physical damage, and the more such links you have, the technically more susceptible the system is to failure.
Ideal would probably be having enough permanent receptacles for all of your devices, but most people don't have or want to have a dozen receptacles in the wall behind their television and another dozen behind their computer area etc. If you are going to use a power strip, yes it is my opinion that buying one built with an appropriate length cord would be preferable to one built with a short cord and an extension cord added to it - if they manufactured it as an assembly and can say with some confidence that assembly is suitable for a certain load, start chaining stuff together making it longer and safe capacity will drop.
Do you know of any surge protected power strips that also have some sort of fuse or something that just turns everything off if it detects that it is drawing more current than the wiring is meant for?
I don't, but I am interested and will look into it. Personally I use 12AWG American-made extension cords, in a typical house most of the general purpose receptacles will be wired with 12AWG or 14AWG wire and has circuit breakers sized to protect that wiring accordingly. So typically my #12 cords would be adequately protected by the circuit breaker, just like the wiring in the wall. They cost more and might be too heavy for grandma but I'm not worried about them melting, and they have less voltage drop which is kinder to heavy loads.
I am not running any heaters, I am just curious about all of this wiring business as I have heard many times that using extension cords is technically a fire hazard, but I want to learn why exactly this is.
Because they can make a very affordable cord by using much smaller wire than is used to supply the permanent receptacles, smaller wire has more resistance so it gets hotter than a bigger wire would for the same load and the little cord could be overloaded to the point of melting/burning before the circuit breaker would ever trip. Longer cords have more length to get crushed, pierced, covered with debris, yanked so they are only still plugged in by a hair, tripped over so they yank a kitchen appliance off the counter etc. If you need to use a cord long-term then you probably have a shortage of receptacles so then I'd say it's likely you have multiple things that you want to plug into it etc etc.
STORY TIME
Look at fona for example, he gets bored and goes shopping at True Value for nothing in particular and gets googly eyed at the pretty orange 3 dollar extension cords , he buys this amazing sale item and and on the way home he also acquires an epic air-fryer out of a crackheads trunk. After plugging in his new extension cord to his power strip he snakes it through his sofa ( which he has displaced to play GI JOE DUCT INSPECTOR TENNANT FROM HELL ) and puts some chicken nuggers in his new kitchen gadget. Chelle wheezes at him to put the sofa back so he uses his retard strength to toss it back against the wall and one of the sofa feet slam down on the cord. Then he starts buying space heaters, OH GOD HE'S BUYING LOTS OF SPACE HEATERS, he already beat the space heater up using his retard strength before even switching the thing on. How much more abuse is that cord going to take over the winter while little Arny struts around in another man's basketball shorts trying to be the man of the house ( it just doesn't make any sense really ) while chelly is dressed up like an eskimo and with all the trauma she has been through this year
Basically if you use UL listed extension cords and/or power strips (meaning that the rating given to these products can be trusted [or can it?]), and as long as you don't attempt to draw more power than the weakest link in this system is rated to handle, then you should be good. Yes?
I don't think the weakest-link analogy is the most accurate way to look at it, it's even worse than weakest-link. The wiring resistance in the circuit will be cumulative. So you could very well have two cords that on their own are suitable for 13A, but chain them together for more length and are now suitable for less than 13A because together there is now twice as much resistance.