(OT tag added)

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 20:17:40 +1200, Hopkins wrote:

> House just down the road had a fire in there lounge
because a multibox got
> over loads :-{
> So be careful.

This had never occurred to me before - the American
wiring scheme, where the only fuses/breakers are at the
distribution box, means that there's nothing to stop you
adding dozens of multi-way socket-strips to each other,
and plugging into a single wall socket.  So nothing
technical stops an overload until you exceed the whole
circuit's rating - have I go this right?

(As a matter of interest, in Britain we have fuses in
each plug, with a maximum of 13A - approximately 3kW -
so you can't exceed this via any single socket because
extension leads/multiway strips have a fuse in their
plug too).

Cheers,

Howard Winter
St.Albans, England.

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