Just afraid of an electrical appliance like a TV or air filter burning up when I am out of the house. I know its dumb, but I just wanted to know if an appliance like that failed, if the whole place would burn down. I had a computer monitor burn up on me, but I turned it off in time. If I hadn't been home to turn it off, would it have caused a fire?
2006-09-12 19:42:02 · 7 answers · asked by Hicktown girl66 6 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Other - Electronics
Be aware that if you put an underrated extension cord on an appliance such as a space heater, or a hair dryer, or even an Iron, That cord could heat up and cause a fire long before the circuit breaker trips.
Or if you simply put too many appliances on an underrated extension cord the same thing can happen.
All extension cords sold in the united states, have Tags on them stating the maximum power rating in Watts. Do not exceed that rating. The wire that makes the cord is rated for about that much power.
Do not put a 2500 watt heater on a 900 watt cord, Fire will result. The circuit breaker will probably trip after the damage has been done.
2006-09-14 04:14:17 · answer #1 · answered by Harry C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, in 98% of the cases. The two percent would include your having a faulty circuit breaker (which is rare) or a circuit breaker that's rated way too high for the circuit it's supposed to be protecting.
Say your computer monitor burns out. Under normal conditions a 15 or 20 amp breaker would instantly trip, but not until or unless there is an 'open' or a short' in the circuit. Your best bet would be to install a GFCI for each individual circuit. The other thing to do, and certainly much cheaper, is to use power strips that have built-in fuses.
Anyway, both of these 2% incidences are rare. But if you're worried about it go to your breaker box (usually found in a sub-panel) and manually test the breakers yourself. Or find a kind and knowledgeable neighbor who knows enough about electricity to do this for you. And either use power strips with built-in fuses or Ground Fault the circuits.
Hope this helps.
2006-09-13 02:57:50 · answer #2 · answered by Doc Watson 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A circuit breaker will only break if your house experiences an electrical surge. In the even of an electrical surge, the breaker will disconnect the electricity before it reaches anything. If you leave your computer monitor on and it happens to burn up, the circuit breaker will be absolutely no help.
Regardless, i dont think you have a lot to worry about. if you are running windows (or any other operating system for that matter) you can set it up to turn off the monitor after a certain amount of time. Hope i could be of assistance!
2006-09-13 02:52:02 · answer #3 · answered by azbadluckboy 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not necessarily, for a breaker to trip, a device has to draw current over the breakers rating. there is no law that insures that as an electrical device fails it will fail in such a way as to draw greater current, than it otherwise would, if operating correctly. The current will most certainly change, but to what degree and in what direction is unknown, as the circuits are designed not to fail, but to work, and a failure, when it occurs, is an unexpected event. Bottom line,, keep you plugs and house wiring in good shape, and replace old appliances, as they become questionable. And do not over load sockets, or plugs in a certain room, the key is to distribute the load across as many breakers as you have,, as all the plugs in one room are usually wired in parallel.
azbadluckboy below really should not be answering any electrical questions, Breakers trip on current only,, which is load driven.
2006-09-13 02:50:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most of the time the circut breaker will catch it. But there alway a chance of that happening. I would just keep it off, that way you save electricity and your house from burning
2006-09-13 02:45:17 · answer #5 · answered by Derek 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the circuit breaker should trip- but not in all cases. if its a tv or something small a ground fault interruptor or a voltage supressor can be used. this protects your tv-puter etc from voltage spikes that do occur. if you feel uneasy about leaving things plugged in --pull the cord or throw the breaker when not in use. be sure that the elect outlet isnt connected to your reefer or icebox or you could come home with a defrosted icebox (lol)
2006-09-13 02:54:30 · answer #6 · answered by james_a_willis 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fix a master switch (which controls the entire house circuit) near your front door (inside not outside ) and switch it off/on as you go out or come in This is only for the paranoid - but don't place it outside as buglers or pranksters will have access to it - and carry a torch!
2006-09-13 03:27:51 · answer #7 · answered by joey 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋