Another Question about fire safety...

[Neen5029]

I noticed from my last post, that many of you are active in some way, with a college residential community... The question was posed to me this morning at our weekly staff meeting about how much is too much when it comes to electrical systems in our halls.

My question to all of you is, does anyone have any ideas about how to reduce the stress on the electrical systems of a residence hall, but not taking away the right of the student to make that room their home. Our concern, as a staff, is the number of extension cords and power strips that our students are using. Almost every student has a computer, monitor, printer etc. PLUS all of the other electrical items that come along with them... help

Thanks again and stay safe

~~Neen

[MetalMedic]

Not sure if it is sound advise, but we do not permit extention cords to begin with, other than the ones with a circuit breaker built into them and a cord that is less than 3 feet in length. We preach that no more should be plugged into a circuit than the number of outlets provided. The extention cords with the built-in circuit breakers cheat this rule a bit, but there is really not much choice with computers. I am sure youre buildings were not designed with the idea that every student would have a PC and all its hardware in their room.

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Richard Nester
Orrville (OH) Fire Dept.