Danger Zone: 10 Items Not To Plug Into Power Strips

Raise your hand if you are guilty of plugging too many things into power strips! This girl right here! Are you the type of person who plugs something into every single spot you can on the strips instead of just getting another one? If so, you just became a fire hazard waiting to happen. If your home doesn't have enough outlets, you're probably using power strips.  Which is fine, as long as none of THIS stuff is plugged into one.

Here are 10 things you should never plug into a power strip. Avoid over plugging and overheating and sparking up a fire in your home. After you read these top 10 things NOT to plug in make sure and take a look around your home and office and unplug and plug accordingly. An average of 46,700 electrical fires occurs each year. An average of 390 deaths occurs yearly due to electrical mishaps. Those are some scary numbers.

1.  Refrigerators - We all know they are one of the biggest power draws in your home.  They cycle on and off a lot all day long so that alone can overload a power strip.

2.  Microwaves - They use a MASSIVE amount of wattage. They are a tiny box just waiting to burst into flames.

Get our free mobile app

3.  Coffee makers, toasters, and slow cookers -   Any and all appliances that heat up draw a lot of power.  Blenders on the other hand don't heat up, but they use a lot of power too.

4.  Air conditioners -   They use a bunch of watts, especially when they switch on. When on they are a massive pull on your power.

5.  Hair-care appliances -   Yes, that includes all blow dryers, curling irons, and hair straighteners etc.

6.  Washing machines - Even the energy-efficient ones shouldn't be used with power strips. Big appliances on power strips are just a big don't do it.

7.  Portable heaters -   These take a lot of electricity to heat something up and we tend to let them run for hours on end.

8.  Power tools -   They make industrial power strips you can use with them, but they're more expensive.

9.  Gaming equipment -   You can maybe get away with plugging your gaming console into a power strip.  Gaming computers draw more power.  Either way, you're better off plugging into a surge protector, and then directly into the wall.

10.  Another power strip -   Daisy-chaining is dangerous because it overloads the strip that's plugged into the wall.  So, it could trip a breaker or start a fire.

We really shouldn't be plugging EXTENSION CORDS into power strips at all.  Those longer cords create more "electrical resistance," which is more likely to make some friction for electricity.  Turns out the more resistance there is, the hotter things get and in a hurry! Only you can prevent house fires! So go easy when it comes to plugging all the things in.