Plugging PowerBoards into PowerBoards. Dangerous?

Hi guys.

My house doesn't seem to have enough power sockets. Where my home entertainment unit is I've plugged 4 power boards with 4 sockets each into each other. Can this cause problems? Is this dangerous? If so what are the alternatives. Should I get more sockets installed?

Thanx 4 looking.

Reply to
ghostgunna
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It's not dangerous, if you draw too much power the circuit breaker will trip. The wiring is rated to a higher current than the circuit breaker so you shouldn't have any problems.

Reply to
Friday

As the other poster said, it's not dangerous in itself. If you have the correct wiring and overload protection you have nothing to really worry about. Even the $3 Bunnings power boards have overload protection. If you need lots of outlets though you are best off getting an 8 outlet board and changing your power point to a dual. So you can get 16 outlets without stacking boards.

We officially aren't allowed to use ANY power boards at work, but of course we do otherwise we wouldn't be able to power up our computer let along get any work done. It used to be a few years back that we were allowed to use power boards but *not* stack them, but in the last few years the OH&S drones have told us no power boards at all.

Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

......................... We officially aren't allowed to use ANY power boards at work, but of

Reply to
ogslotu

My house doesn't seem to have enough power sockets.

** Very common problem.

** Not really - but using a 6 or 8 way board makes more sense.
** Last time I asked a sparkie - the max number of power outlets permitted on a single 15 amp rated circuit was 20 ( doubles count as 2).

....... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

If you have a 15 amp rated circuit then all of your outlets would have to be rated at 15 amps or more, for example, pulling 15 amps through a

10 amp outlet would burn out the outlet. 15 amp outlets aren't very common and 15 amp plugs even less so. I think you'll find the rules now say you can have as many outlets as you like as long as it's protected by a circuit breaker that limits the maximum current to whatever the rest of the circuit is rated to.

Friday

Reply to
Friday

"Friday

** Nonsense.

** Domestic appliances cannot be approved if they can draw greater than 10 amps rms (continuously) via a standard 3 pin plug - so a 10 amp 3 pin power plug and outlet are not overloaded.

The breaker in the fuse box protects the *cable* inside the wall - 15, 16 or 20 amp ( thermal /magnetic) breakers are seen on most domestic power circuits.

Modern multi-way power boards have 10 amp *thermal breakers* fitted to them SO their cable and 3 pin plugs are protected.

The limit on the number of installed power outlets on a single circuit in a domestic situation has varied over time and from state to state. The "sparkie" I asked was in NSW.

....... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

You obviously haven't worked in the companies I've work for! ;-)

Conflicting rules and standards are simply a way of life. Common sense and reason do not exist when everyone serves more than one master. If you sit there and refuse to do anything until they fix something, they won't fix it, they will simply order you to bend the rules. Or they invent a formal process to allow you to bend the rules in this instance etc, but then it all just changes at the next restructure anyway... It's even more complex in multi-national organisations were rules can come down from overseas HQ that don't make any sense here, but that's the way it is.

OH&S will have a rule like this power board thing, and they might report to someone overseas and 3 levels and several divisions removed from your boss. You complain to your boss about it, and literally nothing can be done because of the signal-to-noise ratio that exists between your boss and the OH&S department head. It's all fundamentally impossible to fix.

So you have the option to a) Quit, b) Go insane, or c) Simply ignore the rule.

Oh, and you have to learn that everything is your fault anyway! :->

Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

Friday wrote in news:44b0a6a9$1 snipped-for-privacy@news.peopletelecom.com.au:

[...]

The wonderful thing about usenet is that all the misinformation (and even disinformation) you could ever want is just a mouse-click away.

GB

--
 "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the 
  entrails of the last priest." (Diderot, paraphrasing Meslier)
Reply to
GB

Well that sparkie got it wrong! The old rules (1991) specified 8 or 15 for a 16A circuit if protected by a HRC fuse or circuit breaker, depending on the number of circuits, and doubles only counted as one.

The 2001 rules don't have an arbitrary limit on the number of socket outlets per circuit.

David

Reply to
David

That "sparkie" was wrong! And the wiring rules are an Australian Standard, and the limit on socket outlets never varied from stated to state.

David

Reply to
David

"David"

** No surprise.

** Not all of them.

The rules regarding compulsory fitting of ELCBs to the fuse box vary from state to state.

Qld requires one to be fitted if premises change owner.

NSW does not, unless new power circuits are fitted.

** I'll take your word on that.

........ Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

assuming you're not drawwing more current than allowed from the socket, only organisational ones

no more than other clutter.

4 4-way pwer boards get you 13 uasble sockets one 6 way and one 8-way would get you there too. :^)

Bye. Jasen

Reply to
jasen

That's reserved for when you leave the company. ;-)

Reply to
dmm

Who stuffed it up? It was that Dave guy that left a couple of weeks back...................

Anyone one seen the XYZ? That Dave guy that left a couple of weeks back had it last.......................

: )

Reply to
rob

Not if you can blame someone else

Reply to
two bob

"rob" wrote in news:44b0dd7c$0$14073$5a62ac22@per- qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

Of course, if no-one has left the company for a while, responsibilty for all such things reverts to Some Cnut!

"Ahhh, Some Cnut stole me pliers!"

"Some Cnut's made a right royal balls-up of this!"

I reckon that once we track down Some Cnut, his mate "What Bastard", and that woman in China who gives birth to a baby every four seconds, and deal with them, the world will be a much nicer place!

GB

--
 "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the 
  entrails of the last priest." (Diderot, paraphrasing Meslier)
Reply to
GB

And what about double adaptors and power boards?

Dead wrong, go and have a look in your fuse box.

You obviously haven't heard of AUSTRALIAN standards.

Reply to
Friday

Ah yes, the elusive Chinaman Sum Cnut.

Reply to
rob

No. It was the idiot who said it couldn't be done.

I left it in the filing cabinet in the boss's office, filed under "Bet they won't look in here."

;-)

Reply to
dmm

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