# Rewiring a power strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295 "2017-07-01T18:49:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/21 "2017-07-03T14:19:49Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > I do hope you are not planning to use them all at once, because it will be a very short use until the breaker in the strip pops, the fuse in the panel pops, or the knob and tube in the wall summons the nice gentlemen in the shiny red truck. > > I would be REAL leery of anything that pulls a lot of amps, the K&T won’t take it. That’s what CBs are for. 🙂 The strip is rated at 15 Amps. Johnny can note the Amperage of the appliances and make allowances. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/22 "2017-07-03T14:25:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The strip is rated at 15 Amps. Johnny can note the Amperage of the appliances and make allowances. Oh, I don’t worry about amperage. Like when my fuzes kept blowing, I just put pennies in their sockets before I screwed them in. I’m sure I can hack the power strip if I have to. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/23 "2017-07-03T14:34:27Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That’s what CBs are for. 🙂 I thought CBs were for truckers to talk to each other. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/24 "2017-07-03T15:08:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I thought CBs were for truckers to talk to each other. That, too. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/25 "2017-07-03T15:09:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Oh, I don’t worry about amperage. Like when my fuzes kept blowing, I just put pennies in their sockets before I screwed them in. I’m sure I can hack the power strip if I have to. You obviously know what you are about. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/26 "2017-07-04T16:15:28Z")
I cooked corn on the cob in the toaster oven last night. When it was almost done, I warmed up some plates in the microwave oven. It tripped the breaker on the power strip. I was outside grilling the steaks when it happened, but when I came in the plates were clearly ‘done’; so it _almost_ worked. The thing is, they were both plugged into a 1-foot power strip for years and _its_ breaker never tripped. _sigh_ I really wish we had a modern house. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/27 "2017-07-04T16:29:40Z")
Toaster ovens are pretty hefty, around 1,500 W. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/28 "2017-07-04T16:38:35Z")
I’ll be glad when the electrician finally comes out to install the new meter, and to replace the fuze box with a circuit breaker panel. Then I can start thinking about re-wiring the house bit by bit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/29 "2017-07-04T16:46:01Z")
That _is_ old. We have a 1956 breaker panel, and should I come into money I would like to replace it with a modern load center. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/30 "2017-07-04T16:59:20Z")
The house was built in 1934. It’s odd… Didn’t people use the microwave oven and the toaster oven at the same time, when the house was built? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/31 "2017-07-04T17:35:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The house was built in 1934. > > It’s odd… Didn’t people use the microwave oven and the toaster oven at the same time, when the house was built? 😕 They had the same problem on [Green Acres](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGPMadwqPKQ). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/32 "2017-07-04T17:42:16Z")
As for it never blowing the breaker on your old power strip, my guess is that the breaker was bad or you were just at the very edge and the new one is slightly lower than 15 (the old one being slightly more than 15) or this one is more sensitive and the other one had some leeway/time delay built into it. The Amazon page you linked to said it’s 15a. A toaster is like 9 or 10 just by itself, so it’s not surprising that adding a microwave to the mix popped it. You could check the nameplates for amp or watt ratings or get out a meter and see what they’re actually drawing. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/33 "2017-07-04T17:46:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The house was built in 1934. > > It’s odd… Didn’t people use the microwave oven and the toaster oven at the same time, when the house was built? 😕 I believe that microwaves were much smaller in the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/34 "2017-07-04T17:49:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The house was built in 1934. > > It’s odd… Didn’t people use the microwave oven and the toaster oven at the same time, when the house was built? 😕 Why would you want to use the microwave when Uranium oxide on your plates would already automatically nuke the food? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295/35 "2017-07-04T18:44:08Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Why would you want to use the microwave when Uranium oxide on your plates would already automatically nuke the food? The wonders of modern living! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewiring-a-power-strip/790295.md?page=1)