I have -repeatedly- had circuit breakers NOT trip during periods of sustained overload. As in, a 20A breaker did NOT trip for a long time with 20A+ flowing in the circuit. If the breaker is over-rated for the wire and the wire is iffy, this could be a verrrrr bad problem.



Question: do you know the condition of the wires in your house? Are you sure the outlets and breakers are properly rated?

 

In the US I would hope most wiring is properly rated for 15A as a minimum. My house build in 1960 is anyway.



If breakers aren't tripping they should be replaced. It is common in industrial settings now to test your breakers annually or to at least exercise them. But I'll agree some breakers are not very reliable. I've always found the Square D ones to be the best. GE's will fail as they age.



Still with many small amp draw devices there is little ganger and actually added safety if the strips all have an individual breaker on them too.



Good outlet strips are expensive and offer more than one protection level. But they should also be looked at every couple of years. Lightening around me is what usually tears them up.

 

If you have to ask...

 

I had a cut-off power cord with stripped ends I used to temporarily wire something at the shop. I finished what I was doing and twisted the bare wire ends of the hot, neutral and ground together. I tossed it to another coworker and said "hey check out my circuit breaker tester!"

 

I usually used a screwdriver....

 

One of my favorite travel stories was a guy in BFE, Europe (maybe Ukraine?) He stayed at a hostel and the neighbors wouldn't turn down their radio. He decided to trip the circuit breaker by inserting a nail into the mains outlet. It burned his hand and blew the transformer across the street - there was no breaker panel on the building!



He got a good night sleep, and realized when he got back home that he forgot to take out the nail.



Closest I got to that was sublimating a piece of 30AWG magnet wire by accidentally connecting it straight across the 120V mains.

 

Do you guys forget what is going on inside the wall???





All your sockets are daisy chained anyways... there is no difference between having a double socket with a power board on each or 2 power boards plugged together... this however has to remain as somebody explained above, at the maximum current draw of the smallest board..





You must also remember that at higher voltages the current draw decreases... So our American friends have bigger issues with current draw than those of us with 240v AC..



Also just because something says 2 amps doesn't necessarily mean that it is drawing 2 amps.. these figures are generally a high side estimate.. normal current draw would be 2/3 of rated..

 

The only danger is if you exceed the current draw that the wires are designed to support. Of course it's recommended to check the current rating on the power strip, but frankly even the shittiest wire should be good for the few tens of amps you can draw before tripping the circuit breaker. High voltage FTW

 

what about something like a fan motor? The motor can draw (example) 5 amps when running, but that same motor can draw 12 or 13 amps at start up. Yet be rated WAY less.



** note for everyone ** unless you are a certified electrician or have some sort of training in the electrical field, I don't think people should be making suggestions or giving opinions off the top of their head that can be read by others and taken as fact. When in reality it is only an opinion based on experience. And in most cases, that opinion is wrong or contains info that could SERIOUSLY HURT SOMEONE.

 

Startup current can be as much as 400% depending on the motor. Bigger it is the bigger the start up draw. This is usually factored in on wiring standards and CD/fuse ratings.



Bottom line is what plugs into that receptacle as it is the choke point. Assuming you are using just the one receptacle on that ciruit.