Electricity question

[DoYouKubuntu]

I bought a Lasko oscillating ceramic heater and plugged it into a surge protector. When I used it for the first time this morning, it ran for a few hours with no issues. Tonight, however, after only about 20-30 minutes, it tripped the surge protector. According to its user manual:

SAFETY FEATURE
1. A thermal overload protector is built in to prevent overheating.
2. If an overheat temperature is reached, the Heater will automatically shut off. It can only resume operation when
the user resets the unit.

To Reset Heater:
1. Unplug the Heater and wait 10 minutes for the Heater to
cool down.
2. After the Heater has cooled down, plug the unit into a 120V~ electrical outlet and follow the operation instructions described in this manual.

So the fact that what's described above did NOT happen, and instead the surge protector got tripped, what should I make of this? Do I need an electrician...again? (I recently had a major rewiring job done to put in a dedicated 208-230V line for a 24,500 BTU window A/C unit.) Can I plug the heater into the outlet that's for the A/C unit? Should I return the heater? WHAT WHAT WHAT??!!

[kubicle]

So the fact that what's described above did NOT happen, and instead the surge protector got tripped, what should I make of this? Do I need an electrician...again? (I recently had a major rewiring job done to put in a dedicated 208-230V line for a 24,500 BTU window A/C unit.)

Surge protection and overheat protection are two different things, circumstances that trip one may not (and are likely not to) trip the other. What are the specs of your surge protector (what's it's max Watt load) and do you have other devices connected to it? Your heater seems to ask for 1500W and it may be too much for the protector (especially if you have other devices connected to it)

Can I plug the heater into the outlet that's for the A/C unit?

If it's a 120V~ heater, don't connect it to a 230V~ outlet.

[sithlord48]

The heater is 1500W = 120V @ 12.5Amps .. (const draw with spikes)
The Surge is rated Output Amperage Capacity: 15, Output Watt Capacity:1875 Watts. (but acting more like a 13A cap..)

so your are most likley hitting a peak enegry use for the heater and the surge is just kicking its fuse. Im not sure why you are using a surge protector with that in the first place i would just plug it into the wall directly .

[Qqmike]

Im not sure why you are using a surge protector with that in the first place i would just plug it into the wall directly .

Yes, toss that surge protector DYK! I have a situation in my garage shop where I can't run 3 certain appliances at the same time on the same outlet. When I forget, it just throws the circuit breaker (in the house service), which I then just turn back on (after, of course, removing one of the three Wattage hogs).

[DoYouKubuntu]

Thanks guys, as usual, for the great input! Let me explain a couple of things:

The reason it's connected to a surge protector is because its cord isn't long enough to reach the outlet directly, I mean if it's placed where I WANT it! I knew that using an extension cord wasn't advisable, but I thought it'd be okay in the surge protector. I can move the heater so it's plugged in directly to an outlet, it just won't be located exactly where I wanted it.

I realized something last night: when it was running in the morning, NOTHING else that's connected to the same surge protector was on; when I ran it last night...well...three lamps (that come on automatically via timer) had been on for about...you guessed it! 20 or 30 minutes when the protector tripped.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Alrighty, here's an update--and I need help figuring out what to do.

I ran the heater today--still connected to the surge protector, but nothing else that's also connected to the surge protector was on at the time. I'm not sure exactly how long it ran, but probably a few hours...and it tripped the surge protector again. Just like in my OP, the heater itself did NOT do what its manual says it will do if it overheats; instead, it's the surge protector that got tripped.

I'm a little skittish right now about plugging it directly into an outlet. I'm afraid that if there's something about it that's faulty--and that's why the surge protector keeps activating--it'll trip the entire circuit if it's plugged directly into a wall outlet, and then I'll have to navigate to the side of the house I NEVER go to [because of balance problems] in order to reset the circuit breaker. (Or I'll have to bother my neighbors and ask them to do it. Or wait until a friend comes over and ask them to do it. Etc.)

So, can we brainstorm on this please? I REALLY don't want it to blow a fuse, but I also don't want to keep running it while connected to the surge protector if that's a bad idea.

[Qqmike]

The surge protector or the heater could be faulty. Not sure how a layman could test the heater unless by plugging it into an outlet, maybe have someone handy on-call to help? Have a neighbor test it (and hope it doesn't burn their house down)? I think the Lasko brand is OK, I've had several of their ceramic heaters, no problems. Hmmm, not real sure at the moment ...

[kubicle]

If you can get your hands on a power consumption meter (similar to these: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/power-consumption-meter), you could use it to check the constant/peak wattage the heater draws to check if it draws more than it's supposed to, or if the surge protectors fuse trips well below it's specs. However, you cannot effectively rule out an electrical problem that might short the circuit and trip the fuse.

Like you and Qqmike already suggested, you could invite someone over for a coffee while you test the heater without the protector, to reset the circuit breaker in case it trips.

Obviously, don't run the heater unsupervised until you've figured out the problem (just in case there is an actual problem with it).

[sithlord48]

what else is on the circut that your using for the heater? whats your breaker for that circut? you can get an extention cord but it has to at very least have 14 gauge wire in it one with 16 guage or lower will not be rated for the draw of your heater. If the circut your pluging your heater into is also 15amp (common for receptical runs) you may need to use it as the only device on the circut when its on since it maybe just pop your breaker if you hvae much more on. most 15amp breakers will pop between 13-15 amps with your device drawing 12.5 Amp you might want to use a 20Amp circut if you have one.

[logan01]

Just for grins, plug it in to a wall outlet and see what happens. Does your booklet state how many amps it draws. Do you know what size circuit breaker the surge protector wall outlet circuit is such as a 15-20-30 amp circuit breaker in your breaker box? If it works fine plugged into the wall directly, next I would turn on whatever else is plugged into the surge protector. If, under those conditions, everything continues to work, it's likely the surge protector is either weak or doesn't have the capacity to handle the heater. Either get a better surge protector or a heavy duty extension cord for the heater. I'm thinking it's the surge protector. Most of those are nothing more than a glorified multi-outlet device.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I'm going to wait until a friend comes over and try it then [plugged directly into a wall outlet].

Based on what goes out when the surge protector trips, I'm reasonably sure that there's nothing on that circuit except what's plugged into the surge protector, i.e., three lamps (two are stained glass butterfly lamps which each use one 40W bulb), a table lamp (which uses three 60W bulbs), and an oscillating fan. As noted before, none of those was on when the surge protector tripped yesterday.

I'm honestly not motivated/interested enough to buy anything to figure out how much power/wattage the heater is pulling, etc. I'm MUCH more inclined to simply return it.

[logan01]

That's cool. Assuming the surge protector is plugged into a room outlet with the room having other outlets, overhead light, fan, etc, the probability is at least some of those share a common circuit breaker. It is unlikely that in the normal scheme of things that you would be exceeding the limits of that particular breaker. Possible but not likely. I bet it's the surge protector unless you purchased a faulty heater. If the heater has a decent air space around it the thermal protector shouldn't be tripping. Probably has a another shut-off sensor for tilting / falling over.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Assuming the surge protector is plugged into a room outlet with the room having other outlets, overhead light, fan, etc, the probability is at least some of those share a common circuit breaker.

I'm pretty sure about what's on that specific circuit because everything else in that room, including a ceiling fixture with five 60W bulbs, a 32" TV, a DVR, a lamp (identical to the one I mentioned above, with three 60W bulbs), and a few other things were running when the surge protector tripped, and none of them went out. To be clear, the surge protector is the only thing plugged into that particular wall outlet. Its outlet is immediately next to the brand-new, dedicated outlet for the window A/C unit; the A/C is the only thing plugged into its outlet and--obviously!--I'm not running the air conditioner right now.

It is unlikely that in the normal scheme of things that you would be exceeding the limits of that particular breaker. Possible but not likely. I bet it's the surge protector unless you purchased a faulty heater.

This is the surge protector in question.

If the heater has a decent air space around it the thermal protector shouldn't be tripping. Probably has a another shut-off sensor for tilting / falling over.

Yes, it has tons of free space around it and, yes, it's supposed to have built-in protection if it tilts or falls. Right now I'm thinking the surge protector is the culprit, but I'm not willing to try the direct outlet test until someone else is here who can go reset the circuit breaker if it trips!

[Teunis]

A surge protector is to protect sensitive electronic devices against power (as in Voltage) surges.

Heaters don't fall in the categories of sensitive nor electronic.
Though that 'Electronic thermostat' is a bit iffie...

[DoYouKubuntu]

A surge protector is to protect sensitive electronic devices against power (as in Voltage) surges.

Yes, but [*swats at your avatar yet again*] as noted earlier, the reason I plugged it into the surge protector was because its cord isn't long enough to reach the wall outlet directly [if the heater is placed where I actually want it].

Heaters don't fall in the categories of sensitive nor electronic.
Though that 'Electronic thermostat' is a bit iffie...