-=PCTechTalk=- Surge protectors and extension cords

My apologies to the group.  The message quoted below should have had a new 
subject and I forgot to clean it up.  The quoted message below is cleaned up 
and the subject line of this message has been changed.   If all the  >, >> 
and  >>>  makes the message formatting hard to read open the message full 
screen and the formatting should be much better.

Don

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don101" <don101@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?


> Wire, including that used for extension cords and other electical use is
> measured according to size of the wire (not including the insulation 
> around
> it).  A standard electrical cord for a lamp is typically 18 guage wire.
> Small lamps might use 20 or 22, larger ones 14 or 16.  The smaller the
> number, the larger the wire.
>
> When plugging in multiple items you should  use an extension cord made 
> with
> larger wire than the largest wire you will plug into it.  Do not use
> extension cords for high amperage rating items such as toasters and 
> toaster
> ovens.  The longer the extension cord, the larger the wire should be.  I 
> do
> not buy extension cords that are not at least 16 or 14 guage in size and
> have a three prong plug and sockets.  When used in, on or around a water
> source the wall socket or the extension cord should be protected by a 
> Ground
> Fault Isolation circuit breaker.
>
> When the wall socket is behind a piece of furniture, do not allow the
> furniture to be pushed back against the wall and bend the cord over.  Buy
> flat plug or wall-hugger extension cords instead (that is all I buy for
> indoor use because the sockets I want to use are always behind furniture).
>
> Do not use an adapter to plug a three-prong plug into a two-prong socket.
> Do not break off the the third prong to make it fit a two-prong socket.
>
> Surge protectors are rated in Joules.  The higher the rating, the better
> protection.  A large surge, such as a close-by lightning strike, that 
> would
> be stopped by a 4500 joule surge protector would zap through a 650 joule
> surge protector like a warm knife through melted butter.  Surge protectors
> do nothing to protect against power outages. . . not even the short
> interruptions provided by many utility companies.
>
> I do not recommend you depend on a surge protector to protect you from
> electrical overload.  I encourage my customers to buy battery backup units
> or Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) instead.  A small $40-50 unit will
> provide enough power for your system long enough for you to complete a 
> safe
> shutdown.  I have two $175 units to protect literally everything in my
> system.... CPU, monitor, printer, speakers, router, modem, external drives
> and my telephone and a small desktop fan.
>
> Many home improvement stores and hardware stores have trained electricians
> on their staff.  Pick his or her brain and then buy an extension cord 
> there.
>
>
> DISCLAIMER:  Every electrical item you buy these days comes with a safety
> sheet of some sort that provides information on how to safely use the 
> item.
> It is a lot of boring details and common sense items but should be read 
> one
> once in a while just to make sure it stickes in your head.  Use of 
> extension
> cords is frequently discouraged or prohibited by these instructions.  Read
> and heed your safety instructions.  Where those instructions vary from 
> what
> I said above you should follow the instructions.  Improper use of 
> extension
> cords causes far too many fires, injuries and deaths to treat them 
> lightly.
>
>
> Don
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "cristy" <poppy0206@xxxxxxx>
> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 11:26 PM
> Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?
>
>
>> heat (and a subsequent loss of a small amount of that initial electrical
>>> potential) that actually warms up the wire.  Attach too many appliances
>>> to
>>> the same extension cord and it'll REALLY heat up, so much that it 
>>> becomes
>>> a
>>> fire hazard since the heat generated can eventually melt the protective
>>> insulator and cause a short circuit or worse.
>>
>>
>> So how do the surge protectors help with this and I have lots plugged 
>> into
>> the one my computer is using.  I also could not figure why some had red
>> lights on, some green, some none, why do they differ?
>>
>> I know there is "grounding" involved here that protects from electrical
>> surges.  So I guess extension cords have no protection?  How do you know
>> what type of extension cord to use for a piece of electical equipment?
>>
>> "just curious" ;0
>>
>> Christine
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 11:10 PM
>> Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?
>>
>>
>> Correction:  Fluorescent lamps are NOT vacuum sealed.  As I mentioned,
>> inside the sealed tube is a gas that glows when electricity is applied. 
>> I
>> just should not have included the word "vacuum".    :O)
>>
>> Peace,
>> G
>>
>> "The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked"
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:21 PM
>> Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?
>>
>>
>>> Rudy,
>>>    No part of my description here takes into account devices that are
>>> actually designed to produce heat as their basic function such as
>>> electric
>>> clothes dryers, electric space heaters, electric water heaters, etc..
>>> Those
>>> intentionally convert electricity into heat.  I will only be discussing
>>> unintentional heat generation here.
>>>
>>>    At its simplest form (and within the context of electronics and the
>>> components it brings to life), operational heat is generated as a result
>>> of
>>> friction at the molecular level.  As current travels through a wire,
>>> there
>>> is a certain amount of resistance as electrons jump from one atom to the
>>> next on their way to the other end of the line.  While most of the
>>> electricity will reach its intended target (the appliance at the end of
>>> the
>>> line) and be converted into other types of energy (it'll make a blender
>>> spin
>>> or a washing machine pump water), this resistance results in a little 
>>> bit
>>> of
>>> heat (and a subsequent loss of a small amount of that initial electrical
>>> potential) that actually warms up the wire.  Attach too many appliances
>>> to
>>> the same extension cord and it'll REALLY heat up, so much that it 
>>> becomes
>>> a
>>> fire hazard since the heat generated can eventually melt the protective
>>> insulator and cause a short circuit or worse.
>>>
>>>    With electronic components such as a CPU, they are made up primarily
>>> of
>>> microscopic transistors that are constantly turning on and off to direct
>>> data through itself.  The switching is accomplished by applying a 
>>> voltage
>>> to
>>> what is called a gate.  Depending on the type of transistors employed,
>>> the
>>> presence of voltage at the gate allows current to pass from one side of
>>> the
>>> transistor to the other.  The absence of voltage will instead turn the
>>> transistor off.  Since there are hundreds of millions of transistors in 
>>> a
>>> modern CPU and those switches operate at astronomical speeds (measured 
>>> in
>>> Ghz.), a LOT of heat is produced by all of the miniscule resistances
>>> present
>>> throughout the processor.  As more transistors are added to CPU designs
>>> and
>>> the faster they make the chip, the more heat it will produce simply
>>> because
>>> there will be more places for resistance to fight against the flow of
>>> electricity.  Fortunately, they have been working towards reducing the
>>> size
>>> of the transistors used in these beasts.  Each reduction in transistor
>>> size
>>> allows them to operate using less electricity and that means less
>>> electrical
>>> resistance and therefore less heat.
>>>
>>>    I could go into a lot of additional examples, but I think those two
>>> should help explain that the heat originally produced is a product of 
>>> the
>>> electricity that never gets to be used for whatever the component is
>>> supposed to do.  Operational heat results in the loss of a tiny
>>> percentage
>>> of the actual electricity used by the component or system, even if the
>>> heat
>>> produced is almost unbearable.
>>>
>>>    As far as your LCD goes, there are fluorescent lamps behind the 
>>> window
>>> you stare at all day.  They operate by exciting the electrons within a
>>> gas
>>> inside a vacuum sealed tube when voltage is applied to them.  This gas
>>> has
>>> a
>>> much smaller resistance than the filament found in incandescent bulbs
>>> (the
>>> screw in type found in many table lamps), so they don't natively produce
>>> anywhere near as much heat as incandescent lamps.  They also cannot
>>> produce
>>> anywhere near as much heat as your tower.  Just consider the fact that
>>> your
>>> Hanns only uses 49 watts Max of electricity (watts = voltage X amperes)
>>> compared to hundreds of watts being used by the tower.  Of course, this
>>> doesn't mean fluorescent lamps don't get warm over time, just not to the
>>> degree you are questioning here.  LCD monitors and TVs should all have
>>> vents
>>> to allow heat to escape rather than build up within the confines of the
>>> casing.  If these vents are covered, clogged, etc., I could see this
>>> problem
>>> developing after a while of continuous monitor use.  If the vents are
>>> unobstructed, consider the placement of your tower.  Is it possible that
>>> the
>>> heat is actually rising up from the back of the tower and making it seem
>>> like it's coming from the monitor?  In our computer room, the two nearly
>>> constant running towers certainly do act as room warmers as you
>>> described,
>>> but the two LCD monitors add very little to that equation.
>>>
>>> Peace,
>>> G
>>
>> 


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