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TIL most people plug power strips into surge protectors wrong
I saw three different builds this week where guys had daisy-chained surge protectors instead of plugging directly into the wall. That not only kills the surge protection but creates a fire risk if you pull too many amps through one outlet. Has anyone else noticed this in clients' home offices?
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webb.stella5mo ago
Oh you're way overthinking this. Most of these cheap surge protectors people buy at the hardware store barely do anything even when you plug them in right. Daichaining them is just a extension cord with extra steps and the real fire risk is from old wiring in the walls or people plugging space heaters into strips, not two power strips plugged into each other. The MOV thing sounds smart but honestly most home electronics these days have their own power supplies that can handle a little surge on their own.
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avery7215mo ago
oh man this is such a common thing people mess up. the big overlooked angle is that most surge protectors use MOVs (metal oxide varistors) to clamp voltage spikes, and when you daisy chain them, the first strip's MOVs can degrade way faster because they take all the initial hit. so even if you think you're protected, you're really just running a fancy extension cord after the first one fries its protection. i see this all the time in home offices where people want extra outlets but don't want to move furniture around. it might be working fine now, but a big power surge could toast your pc if the first strip already lost its ability to clamp.
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