Message from Midnight12

[SteverinoNY]

I realize I have not posted here in a while, but just passing along a message from Midnight12 that she will be unable to get on CS or Facebook for a while due to some electrical problems in her home plus potential issues with the computer possibly being fried.

I'll update if there is any further information

[Seraph]

Oh ouch, that always sucks. Hope she gets everything fixed up, and that the PC isn't fried!

[Midnight12]

is back. pc is not fried but now we get to do the FUN THING of having the wiring checked and outlets examined.
our house is old and not modern friendly so that means in certain rooms if you have one too many things running it WILL trip the breaker. we had the tv, window ac unit, and computer running and turned on ONE lamp and that tripped it. the den and kitchen are connected as one circuit. (sigh) so whatever was going on in the kitchen too.

just to make sure we turned off the ac and then did turned the lamp on again after reseting the breaker. set it off again. only this time after flipping the switch again the lights came back on but nothing else. anything else that was plugged in would not power on. but after about 30 minutes things started to come back on. after we flipped the master switch. omg....so being super super cautious now and unplugging things when i am not using them. the last sign that i and my family need to move. which is a good thing because we would be moving closer to family anyway so it turns out to be a semi-good thing

[Seraph]

Our house does that too, I feel your pain. We can't vaccuum in the bedrooms while the dishwasher is running, or BOOP.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I have to be careful in my house too. If I need to vacuum the house, for example, I have to make sure both the heaters are off in the living room and Mom's bedroom - otherwise the switch will trip.

Same if I need to use the hairdryer in the bathroom . . . make sure the heaters are off.

This is due to having one switch on the box that handles the outlets in my brother's room, Mom's room, my bedroom and 2 of the outlets in my office (the two on the far wall between my windows has a switch all to itself b/c they were installed after we'd moved in back in the 90's and the electrician doing the work simply installed a new switch on the box and labeled it. This is the one I use for my fireplace - having that and 2 electric room heaters all on one switch will also trip the switch too.)

Luckily I don't have this problem but only during the winter months.

[Sandman]

Was having the same issue with my old place when I lived with my parents. Electrician (who is the husband of my cousin) did the work. Made a few new circuits on the breaker and the problem was solved (as well as put in armored wiring).

[CalyCoRose]

Goodness! Thought I was the only one with weird/faulty wiring in my house. And my house is "only" 25 years old.

I have one switch that controls the living/dining room AND kitchen. So I have a lot of fun if I'm using my microwave, my oven, and my iPod player. I HATE it.

Glad you're back!

[lordlundar]

You can deal with funky wiring, but for sensitive electronics it does require a little bit extra care:

1. When that happens, turn off an master power switches you have on them. For desktop PCs it will be a toggle switch on the back. Turning off any power bars works as well. When you reset the breaker (or replace the fuse) then turn on the switch. Remember, it's not the loss of power that fries the circuits, it's the sudden restart after.

2. Invest in an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS). These things a re a godsend for a computer user. They look like a really over sized power bar and function essentially as a back up battery. Anything plugged into the battery outlets in one get a highly filtered power feed through the battery which stays charged so long as there's AC power going to it. In the event of a power loss or spike above a certain level the unit cuts the connection and feeds battery power to the items plugged in, allowing a safe shutdown.

Now, remember what I said about "heavily filtered? Because the power goes to the battery first, it's almost impossible to over load anything plugged into those outlets. The makers of those are so confident that they always have a lifetime insurance for anything plugged into it, replacing anything plugged into it that has been damaged. The numbers are so high that unless you're running a bleeding edge system, you won't go over it.

The reason I speak highly about those? I have my second with the first blown out due to a lightning storm. Had I not had one? At least $1500 worth of computer equipment down the drain. Well worth the investment.