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Home::Advice

Extension Cord: Don't Throw A Rug Over It!

Author : Brian Medini

At the dinner table, I leaned over and whispered urgently to
Kate, our host, "Smells like something burning." A bit startled,
she got up and went into the kitchen to check. At her sudden
departure, the conversation around the table fell silent.

As we waited, she returned and announced, "Everything seems to
be all right." Things went back to normal. We were having a good
time. The food was delicious and the conversation lively. It was
Kate's husband Alex's birthday party.

But the smell lingered and seemed to get stronger. "Any one else
smell something burning?" I asked loudly this time. In the
silence that followed, Alex raised his head, sniffed the air,
and said, "I believe you are right."

With some urgency, we got up from the table and started looking
around the house. I decided to go upstairs. Past the first guest
bedroom, outside the second recently converted into a study, the
smell was perceivably stronger. It seemed something plastic or
synthetic was smoldering.

Not knowing what to expect, I cautiously opened the door and
flicked on the light. Everything appeared to be normal but the
burning smell was strong. Then, I noticed an extension cord
running from an outlet next to the door to a computer
workstation across the room. The cord was covered with a rug.
The smell seemed to originate from the rug. There was no smoke.

After unplugging the cord, which felt quite hot to the touch, I
guardedly turned the edge of the rug over. I could see a dark
smoky brown welt on the under side of the rug and a faint brown
line on the carpet. A few more minutes and the rug would
probably have caught fire.

Hearing me call out, Alex and Kate came up. We opened windows,
took the rug outside, and double-checked to make sure everything
else was all right.

The dinner that resumed was a bit subdued and when the birthday
cake was brought out the singing and gaiety seemed bit strained,
but we were all happy and thankful to have averted a potentially
serious mishap.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that
each year about 4,000 injuries associated with electrical cords
require hospital visits. About half the injuries is a result of
people tripping over extension cords.

The CPSC also reports about 3,300 residential fires resulting in
50 deaths and more than 300 injuries each year are due to misuse
of extension cords. Alex had one part right. Running out of
outlets while setting up a new computer, he used an extension
cord and covered it with a rug to avoid tripping. The weather
was unusually cold, so to keep warm, he later plugged in a
portable heater into the same cord and forgot to turn it off.

The cord's rating was adequate for the current being drawn. It
would have run warm but it would not have been dangerous.
However, the rug over it was acting as a heat trap, the
combination a serious fire hazard. The synthetic backing of the
rug made the situation even worse.

The moral of the story: don't use rugs to cover extension cords.
They act as thermal insulators and can cause electrical cords
running under them to overheat. Use specially designed cord
covers instead. They are available at your hardware store, and
they are not costly.

Accidents and injuries due to electricity are actually
relatively low. But electricity can still be dangerous. Imagine
what might have happened if no one was at home, or if it was
late at night and everyone was asleep.

For additional safety tips related to electricity, please do a
search on the web. There is an enormous amount of information
available.

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