Electrical safety

[Dirty]

Okay so I know a lot of you have many lamps, UTHs, and whatnot plugged in so my question is isn't there the danger of electrical fire with that many plugs in an outlet? What's the safest way to use that many plugs without taking any unnecessary risk?

[Stockwell]

The risk is associated only with the size of the load ie the current draw and the potential for producing heat all at one spot..ie "the octopus"

When all the devices draw very little current, there is almost no danger. Heaters and filament light bulbs will be your highest consumers.
Try to keep the total amps below 10 per outlet, or below 1000 watts or so.
Most house circuits will be fused at 15amps, but its best not to push it to the blowing point.
Heaters should be used with nothing else on the circuit but them, and its a good idea to try to use the 1000watt setting rather than 1500 if you have a choice with a high or low setting switch.
The less current , the less heat at the outlet and the less risk.
As the current through connection points(outlets) increases, the resistance at that point starts to become a factor, as it's resistance that produces heat.
Good fitting plugs that make good connection will produce less heat, so make sure all plugs are in good condition and the less times they are plugged in and out the better.(worn plugs have higher resitance and make looser connection)

Using a series of power bars helps to distribute the heat over a larger area, so power bars are a good idea rather than trying to cram a whole bunch of stuff in a several square inch area using only cube taps.

As an extra caution, I replace my wall receptacle that my heater is on, every few years. Most people wouldn't think of this but if you're running a kilowatt or more to heat your herp room , most months of the year.. all that current is hard on receptacles, and the heat eventually damages the metal contacts... so replacing them every few years is inexpensive and a good safety measure.

[Peter Ludwig]

Excellent points Uncle Roy, and if I may add there was also another problem in my son's room. The humidity was high and any copper in the room ie prongs on the plugs of electrical cords were prone to oxidize. Oxidized copper is not a good conductor so keep connections dry.

[Stockwell]

Cheers Peter.. we meet again..
One non electrical shocker..(har har) about my herp room that was revealed was that the humidity from my rain tanks years ago, actually rotted my roof out.
I had to get my shingles replaced some years back and the guy asked me if I had a hot tub.
He said it was the weirdest thing he'd seen. All the boards were rotten but only over one specific room.
I mostly work with dry species now.

[justinO]

While we are talking about electrical stuff, If I may ask a quick question.

We are going to be moving soon, and it came to our attention that the wiring is made of aluminum. Should there be any extra concerns using the aluminum wire over normal wire? We will be having multiple herp rooms, so the current draw will be less per circuit then we currently have. we'd like to hear peoples thoughts.

Oh, we only use two heat bulbs, everything else is on heating pads/heat tape.

Cheers,
Justin & Jessy

[Stockwell]

I wouldn't buy a house with aluminum wiring.
It has higher resistance than copper and causes more heat at sloppy connections. Joining dissimilar metals (copper and aluminum) is also problematic.
I have no personal experience with aluminum systems and I'm not sure of the current status of the code regarding aluminum, but I thought they'd stopped using aluminum in residential systems. I doubt your low consumption herp accessories will be a significant problem. Heaters, the Kitchen stove and dryers would be the major concerns I would think. They are your highest household consumers.
Maybe Peter can answer this one.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Aluminum is now HIGHLY expensive (boxite is very rare nowadays) so I don't think they use it in new houses, do they?

Good stuff to know guys!!! Great read!

[Jeff McFadden]

Aluminum wiring is not done any more and it is forbidden to be used in new construction by the Canadian electrical Code. I do believe if you live in a house that has aluminum wireing you can add to a circuit with copper wireing if you use a paste that prevents oxidation and cold flow (caused by dissimilar metals conducting electricty)This paste is placed in the connectors.It paste can be bought at a hardware store.
Aluminum wire has no elasticity like copper so if you nick it or stress it (bent it too sharp) it's molecules deform and its resistance to electrical current flow goes up thus creating a hot spot, This in your wooden wall is a fire hazzard so be very careful with loading house circuits of aluminum. Also, replace receptacles with ones made for aluminum wire.

[Peter Ludwig]

The previous post was mine (Pete Ludwig's not Jeff's) he was here yesterday and left his file open.

[peterm15]

ya most home inspectors advise you replace aluminum wireing.. and when it comes to buying a home use your own inspector.. find one that passes nearly nothing.. there for youll have a better inspection and something to make a deal with...

[justinO]

Thanks for the information guys. The landlord has already replaced the plug outlets to some aluminum compatable ones.

time to invest in many more smoke detectors and fire extinguishers just in case.

[peterm15]

that is prob the best plan.. always have 2 on hand and have a smoke detector... just in case..