Something to be aware of at your museum and at home, from the Consumer Products Safety Commission. A recall of a large variety of very common multiple outlet surge protectors sold by a number of large distribution store chains, due to many instances of overheating and some serious fires:

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Sch ... rotectors/

PC

thanx for the heads up, I don't own one.

Thank you PCook!

We had three of the subject surge protectors supplying exhibits and AV equipment at our Riverhead site! They have been disabled and we are awaiting new replacement PRO units from APC.

Best,
Don Fisher

Railroad Museum of Long Island

Thanks, with 700 incidents and more than a million dollars of fire damage, it seemed like this report was worth sharing, particularly since these were sold through a number of the large electronic and retail store chains. Railroad Museums face enough problems without having to deal with fires in electrical devices.

PC

Interesting. I had one I recently threw out after it started making a buzzing sound, like it was burning up. I guess it was.

I hate to say, but just don't use cheap surge protectors at all. APC is a reputable brand but this model was a made-for-Walmart cheapie. This is the new trend: reputable firms slapping their label on foreign junk they didn't even design, to hit price points and still make money.

You wouldn't take a wooden power strip. Don't take a plastic one either, same reason.

So do they offer all-metal power strips? You know, no insulation whatsoever?

Oh, wait, black granite's supposed to be the newest indoor-decor trend.........

I help with tech support at a small non-profit school, and after reading this we started checking and found fifteen of these. All had been donated by a large company several years back. We've been in contact with APC and they are replacing them.

Thank you.

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55039/gnom ... -generator

Seriously though, the better grades of power strip are metal, as are older ones. Tripp-lite for instance. Some are even user serviceable, i.e. they use standard outlets you can swap.

They must really be swamped with incoming claims from owners of these power strips. I just received their reponse to my claim indicating a shipment date of a replacement to be January 31, 2014.