power strip for a university

[Jim Harvey]

Hello Roger,

Thursday, February 12, 2004, 11:51:36 AM, you wrote:

RW> Hello list,

RW> I have a music department who is "under attack" from the
RW> school's fire department related to our product in a number of
RW> pianos.  The bottom line is that the fire marshal has requested
RW> that multiple dehumidifiers connect to the Humidistat via a "power
RW> strip", rather than a series of Add-An-Outlets or a three way
RW> adaptor.  I thought this would be easy but my search and that of
RW> our purchasing agent have only turned up power strips with a
RW> grounded plug.  Our Humidistat won't accept the ground pin.  Has
RW> anyone ran into this before and found a solution?  Any help would
RW> be greatly appreciated.

RW> Thanks,

RW> Roger

Roger, it would no doubt help you to know the motivation behind the
request. I'm failing to get to the bottom line, based solely on the
information you were provided; i.e., whether it's about just the
daisy-chain (add-an-outlet), the third-wire grounding, or something to
do with isolation or safety.

What bothers me most about this issue is that of setting precedent. I
for one wouldn't want see a 3-wire installation become a global matter
at the manufacturing level, based solely on the whims of one school's
(not municipal) fire marshal. It's already enough to deal with
routing, securing and hiding 2-wire installations.

Suggestion 1: Counterpoint and reason
If I recall correctly from your predecessors at DC, UL approval is not
merely a political protocol that gives tacit approval to a product. I
understand that approval is earned by stringent test procedures that
often push reliability issues past the point of 'reasonable'.

If that's true, it seems to me that what y'all pay for UL inspections,
approval, and /or endorsement that they (Underwriters) would have some
guidelines that would help resolve this, -including- appeasing (or
covering) the local fire marshal's integrity and job security.

If it is a matter of current draw, I'm thinking that the cumulative
resistive load of a CC installation is not unlike that of a lamp. It's
pretty rare that one sees a lamp fixture with a grounded outlet, even
with 100+ watt bulbs. The notable exceptions are the old-style
mechanics lamps, or other products that are potentially in (not
around) water.

3-wire heavy-duty extension cords are available in both 2 and 3 wire
configurations. One might ask... why? Hint: it's not just because of
current draw.

Everything built by D/C is UL approved. Anything not built by D/C has
a separate UL approval by their respective manufacturer(s), including
the various 3-way, add-a-outlets, etc.

In reading your message yet another time, I'm thinking that this might
be interpreted as the following fictitious statement:

"The service connector of each device must terminate in a strong,
individual mechanical connection..." or something to that effect.

Rant and speculation over.

Suggestion 2: Forget the above, and deal with isolated problem

I'd suggest skipping the catalogs and purchasing agent and either:
a. contact Leviton directly;
b. check with Woods directly;
c. check out Big Lots or other dollar-type stores for 2-wire power
strips. (although they really are getting harder to find).


-- 
Regards,
 Jim                            mailto:harvey@greenwood.net