Rant: Waited 3 years to replace a dying power strip and almost lost my PC

Honestly, I had this old power strip from like 2019 that kept buzzing whenever the AC kicked on. I just figured it was normal and ignored it for 3 years. Then last Tuesday at my buddy Dave's apartment, his whole surge protector caught fire mid gaming session. We had to yank the plug out of the wall while smoke was pouring out. That scared me straight. I went home and swapped mine for a $25 Belkin with surge protection the same night. Turns out the buzzing was a sign the capacitors were failing. Has anyone else put off swapping out old power strips and regretted it?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.lisa1mo ago

Hmm, I actually disagree a little bit. Buzzing from a power strip is definitely not normal, but three years isn't that long for a quality unit if it wasn't showing other signs like warm plugs or flickering lights. My parents have had the same surge protector since 2016 and it still works fine, no drama. Sounds like Dave had a cheap or really old one that was probably defective from the start. Most decent surge protectors last 5 to 10 years unless you take a direct lightning hit. Glad you swapped it out though, better safe than sorry for sure.

blairwhite1mo ago

Fair point, actually changed my mind on this one.