OT: Computer's electrical outlet

[alan]

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:

> alan wrote:
>>
>> The one piece of kitchen equiptment that has caused me the most problems
>> is a toaster.  I used to blow fuses at my old house all the time and 95%
>> of the time it was the toaster that pushed it over the edge.
>>
>> With that high of a load, I wonder if the breakers work at all.
>>
> Toasters tend to be a high-draw appliance, but they do not produce
> the startup spike that a microwave or a motor produces. Now, when it
> comes to breakers, there are many different types. The most common
> types in the U.S. are the thermal over-current and the magnetic
> short-circuit types. The better types, like the Square-D QO line
> have both in one package. The magnetic trip is great for protecting
> against short-circuits, but do not do well against overloads. The
> thermal trip types are great against over-current, but are very slow
> to react to a short-circuit. One of the worst examples of this were
> the old FPE breakers. You could vaporize anywhere between 1/4" to
> 1/2" of screwdriver before one would trip. On the other hand, the
> did offer fair overload protection. (I can remember a 60 amp QO
> breaker feeding a temporary panel trip before a 20 amp FPE breaker
> that was the only load, when someone dropped a beam on a cord
> plugged into the outlet. I was surprised that the breaker tripped
> before the cord burned clear of the beam.)

The breakers in my old house were glass screw-in fuses.

Not the worse case at that house...

[Digression warning]

I had all sorts of problems with light bulbs flickering and burning out, 
as well as other electrical problems.  After lots of ranting I got the 
landlord to bring in an electrician.

He found that one of the 220 breakers was blown, so he replaced the fuse 
and threw the switch.

There was a flash across the room and the breaker popped immediatly.

He followed the 220 line from the breaker and found it clamped to a pipe.

A gas pipe.

When they replaced the electric stove with gas, instead of capping the 
electric line, they just attached it to a nearby pipe.  (Which happened to 
be the gas pipe.)

My landlord did not say much the rest of the day and I know we didn't have 
any gas leaks.

-- 
Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.