Originally Posted by MacThayer
I have my sewing machine, iron and a nearby lamp on a surge protector, and I automatically shut it off when I'm not using them. Is that enough?
In fact, practically everything in this house is on a surge protector. We were hit by lightening a few years back, and even though the house was properly grounded, the lightening was so close, it blackened an outside and inside wall, blew a wall lamp off the wall, and fried every electronic we had plugged in, even if it wasn't on, except for a couple things like the fridge and range which had built in surge protectors. And I mean every electronic! My husband had a home office, and that meant his fax, copier, scanner, and 2 computer were history. We lost every TV in the house, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Even the blow dryer for my hair blew up. You can see why we use surge protectors now!
I remember when it hit. This shock of electricity hit me, knocked me down, and my hair stood on end. Scared the heck out of the dog. It wasn't funny. And I never leave the house with anything running: dryer, dishwasher, TV, nothing.
If anyone knows if turning off a surge protector would prevent a fire, I'd love to know.
Surge protectors wear out and we are not aware of it because items plugged in through them still work by delivering electricity. Each time they receive a surge it uses up some capacity. And there can be surges that you do not know of because the source of the surge happened way down the line. In other words, after a while a surge protector is only an extension cord. The surge protector is designed to protect what is plugged in to them while in use. When not in use unplug the surge protector, then everything is protected by not being exposed.