Fire hazard warning Chinese power strips

[TwelveInchFigures]

A friend's sister and family lost their house - and everything in it, including their beloved pet. Cause - a surge protector made in China; a LOT of cheap power strips and other products coming from China are NOT safe, even some food items like baby food. Here are a few links that might be informative to read:

https://www.wnd.com/2013/10/use-chinese-surge-protector-burn-house-down/
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Chine...other-than-iPhone-being-manufactured-in-China
https://www.supcofirehelp.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5sKfpr_M3wIVVAOGCh3D4wEaEAAYASAAEgKiy_D_BwE
https://www.alarmnewengland.com/blog/home-safety-tips-power-strips

This reminded me of a surge protector that started smouldering next to my mother's bed a couple years ago - she woke and discovered it, and unplugged everything. It was melted, and I don't even want to think of what would have happened if she hadn't woken up.

Be sure to check all electronic products are UL listed and research before you buy. Cheap crap may cost you your home (or worse) down the road.

Anyone who wishes to help Beth and her family can refer to gofundme set up on their behalf:
https://www.gofundme.com/st-albans-...awz0I3j9h6d3QFRCYqdQ1BC2yHhQ4dgslwh_occVo-f3U

I wish you all a very safe and very Happy New Year.

 

[xipotec]

Sorry to hear the news....

But are we surprised? With all electronics be sure to verify it is UL listed.

I bought a bunch of power supplies years back cause they were “cheap” and the all fried out. Some melting in a few of them.

Amazon even sells alot of Chinese crap thats not UL listed. Pretty sure it is illegal, but Amazon is making money and we cant stop that.



Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

 

[P.]

 

[surfin4]

Timing is everything.

 

[potato]

A friend's sister and family lost their house - and everything in it, including their beloved pet. Cause - a surge protector made in China; a LOT of cheap power strips and other products coming from China are NOT safe, even some food items like baby food. Here are a few links that might be informative to read:

https://www.wnd.com/2013/10/use-chinese-surge-protector-burn-house-down/
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Chine...other-than-iPhone-being-manufactured-in-China
https://www.supcofirehelp.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5sKfpr_M3wIVVAOGCh3D4wEaEAAYASAAEgKiy_D_BwE
https://www.alarmnewengland.com/blog/home-safety-tips-power-strips

This reminded me of a surge protector that started smouldering next to my mother's bed a couple years ago - she woke and discovered it, and unplugged everything. It was melted, and I don't even want to think of what would have happened if she hadn't woken up.

Be sure to check all electronic products are UL listed and research before you buy. Cheap crap may cost you your home (or worse) down the road.

Anyone who wishes to help Beth and her family can refer to gofundme set up on their behalf:
https://www.gofundme.com/st-albans-...awz0I3j9h6d3QFRCYqdQ1BC2yHhQ4dgslwh_occVo-f3U

I wish you all a very safe and very Happy New Year.

do you have more info on what caused the surge protector to trip? how was it constructed? how many MOVs are connected and how was it connected? Because there should be a fuse before the MOV even if the MOV shorted, the amount of current required to generate the heat would have caused the Fuse to blow and cut off the circuit, and the circuit breaker should trip.

unless something inside caught fire (loose wires causing heat) that overcurrent was not the cause. were they new?

was the appliances plugged in and powered up? was it running over the limit or close to the limit? there can be so many reasons why it started, bad stripe can be one but there maybe other reasons.

i don't know about surge protector, but for power strip usually it's overload, small gauge wires, or some loose connection. A 13A fuse should blow around 20A and technically 20A is the borderline upper limit for normal power strip wires (although they are specified to 13-15A only for safe operation).

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

Good questions, unfortunately I don't have all that information, I don't know what specifically was plugged in or its age, etc., all I know is it was in their garage and they couldn't figure out at first what started it because there wasn't much out there. I was lead to believe it failed when it shouldn't have (i.e. - it wasn't overloaded or installed incorrectly). The fire inspector said he hates power strips and surge protectors because they cause so many fires. That is all I know. If I find out more, I will pass it on, but I don't want to ask right now as they are all overwhelmed and have their hands quite full dealing with rebuilding their lives.

For the one my mom discovered a couple years ago next to her bed smouldering (whole separate issue, but it brought it to my memory), it was plugged directly into a wall outlet and we only had 3 small items plugged into it (digital clock, table light and land line speaker phone) - it was not overloaded by any means. I suspect she has dirty power, so maybe that can contribute to surge protector malfunction? The only other thing I can think of in this case is its age - hers was probably about 5 years old, and the fire marshal said people should change their surge protectors every 2 years.

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

I passed questions on, here's the response:

"all good questions. There were not any appliances plugged into it. I am understanding China will slap the uL sticker on these power strips and they don't really meet the uL requirements, something like that. Can't really look into it at this time."

I suspected some Chinese companies would do something underhanded like just putting UL cetification on the package when it wasn't true - and it takes time to verify if an electronic really is UL certified. Everything I have says it's UL certified, but there are one or two I qeustion - and my searches online didn't indicate one way or the other on some of them.

 

[potato]

Good questions, unfortunately I don't have all that information, I don't know what specifically was plugged in or its age, etc., all I know is it was in their garage and they couldn't figure out at first what started it because there wasn't much out there. I was lead to believe it failed when it shouldn't have (i.e. - it wasn't overloaded or installed incorrectly). The fire inspector said he hates power strips and surge protectors because they cause so many fires. That is all I know. If I find out more, I will pass it on, but I don't want to ask right now as they are all overwhelmed and have their hands quite full dealing with rebuilding their lives.

For the one my mom discovered a couple years ago next to her bed smouldering (whole separate issue, but it brought it to my memory), it was plugged directly into a wall outlet and we only had 3 small items plugged into it (digital clock, table light and land line speaker phone) - it was not overloaded by any means. I suspect she has dirty power, so maybe that can contribute to surge protector malfunction? The only other thing I can think of in this case is its age - hers was probably about 5 years old, and the fire marshal said people should change their surge protectors every 2 years.

hmm should have taken your mum's surge protector for further inspection to check out the cause.

 

[potato]

I passed questions on, here's the response:

"all good questions. There were not any appliances plugged into it. I am understanding China will slap the uL sticker on these power strips and they don't really meet the uL requirements, something like that. Can't really look into it at this time."

I suspected some Chinese companies would do something underhanded like just putting UL cetification on the package when it wasn't true - and it takes time to verify if an electronic really is UL certified. Everything I have says it's UL certified, but there are one or two I qeustion - and my searches online didn't indicate one way or the other on some of them.

hmm. so nothing was plugged into it. but was it plugged into the wall and turned on? did the stripe have individual on/off switches and were they on? was there other things turned on in the garage that may be the cause? was there any flammable fluids stored inside? I doubt China strips have a fuse at the plug compared to UK 3-pin plugs.

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

Not sure on all that, but believe it was plugged into the wall at least, and no liquids near it. It was a relatively new place so they didn't have a lot in the garage. Thing is, I believe she doesn't get that stuff online, so that means a local store - Home Depot or Walmart. I've gotten a few online myself, but they were more expensive ones for electronics - other than that I buy them at local stores too. So that means these problem units are coming into the country through more than Amazon - they're at your local stores too (or were, maybe not now) and if the UL standards are pressed on the protector right into the plastic but it's false, that really complicates things; then you basically can't trust UL logo on a product. But I don't know about all this, so someone in the knew maybe could inform me on this. I don't know how much the electronics in local stores in the USA and other countries are policed for fakes, so I probably shouldn't comment.

And yes, I should have brought the power strip that my mom found to be looked at, you're very right. I hope there's not a next time, being more careful now and paying more for strips and protectors, but if it does happen again and we hopefully catch it in time, I will do that.