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Encountering a Fire Safety Hazard with a Belkin UPS Device
I recently purchased a Belkin UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) Model F6H350-USB. The device is supposed to provide continuous power supply for about 15 minutes if the power fails, and acts as a surge suppressor. Incredibly, using this device instead of a lower-cost normal surge supressor power strip nearly caused a house fire in my home due to a serious safety issue with the device that Belkin is aware of.
Here are photos of the outlet that had the Belkin UPS plugged into it. The first photo shows the outlet before I removed it and replaced it (turning the appropriate breaker off, of course), with the cover plate turned over and taped onto the wall to show the burn marks on it. The second set of photos show the removed outlet, which appears to have partially fused - that's how hot the metal got. I'm lucky we did not have a fire.
After about 30 minutes on hold on a long distance line, I finally reached technical support at Belkin (Fernando), who immediately asked if I had any other surge protectors plugged into the UPS device. As a matter of fact, I did have a small one plugged in. The photo below shows the device, a Woods surge suppressor, into which I had plugged my computer. (It's not plugged in in the photo.) Tech support told me that was the problem - that plugging in any other surge suppressors can cause the device to drain excessive power or behave in other undesirable ways. I looked over the user's manual and saw no warnings about fire hazards and asked where there was a warning about other surge suppressors. He couldn't point to it either - but later I found some fine print that simply told users not to use other surge suppressors - but there was no warning of a fire hazard or safety issue. One could easily think it was just because it was not necesary. Fernando later called back and pointed me to some fine print on the warranty page that said the warranty was void if other surge suppressors were used (e.g., daisy chaining surge suppressors - but again no indication that there might be a safety hazard).
One reason why I had used the second surge suppressor was that it had phone jacks to provide protection from surges over phone lines. The Belkin unit also has phone jacks for the same purpose, BUT THEY DID NOT WORK. I figured I was missing something, but just took a shortcut of using my existing phone surge suppressor and plugged it into the Belkin unit. I had no way of knowing that this could cause a house fire!
After talking with Fernando, I explained that in the role of just being a good citizen, I would ask them to update their user's manual to provide a bold, hard-to-miss safety warning about the physical dangers of using additional surge surppresors with the Belkin device. I was told that Belkin had already fulfilled their obligations and had no intention of revising their manuals. This got me upset. I asked how could they do that in good conscience knowing that people's lives might be at risk. I was told that they already had printed a warning not to use other surge suppresors, and that would be fine. I said excuse me, but if someone died in a house fire and I were the prosecuting attorney, I think I could make a powerful case for negligence if all they had were some words in small print on the warranty satemenet, with no clear indication of the safety risk. Fernando told me that he had been on a jury in a negligence case, and knew that as long as something was in print, the company would be excused. Oh, really? And what about the duty to prevent physical harm? I asked to speak to a supervisor, and eventually was told that one was ready to speak to me, but simply got voice mail. I left a detailed message and asked to be called back, but 24-hours later they have not returned my call. What are they afraid of? My blog, perhaps?
I purchased my Belkin device from WorldStart.com - which is an excellent and trustworthy place (I get one of their newsletters - an excellent resource for computer tips). I called WorldStart today, and got rapid response. They are going to ship me a working Belkin unit, and showed a lot more concern about safety than Belkin employees did. They may even post an alert somewhere, and will certainly look into the matter. Kudos to WorldStart - you've kept a customer happy in spite of a problem with a product - something that Belkin has not learned to do.
By the way, this is my second bad experience with Belkin products and support. My previous experience was with a USB hub that did not work (it could not be powered with the power supply that came with it). Two emails to tech support at Belkin went unanswered.
My advice: don't get burned with Belkin. I nearly did. (Note: I'm sure their products are fine for most applications - but I am amazed at their lack of concern about this safety issue.)
Is the fire hazard reproducible? Have others demonstrated this problem?
There ought to be a bold warning if this is a known problem.
T
Several things come to mind after looking at the pictures of your
electrical outlet.
Loose (worn) terminals in an outlet can cause a higher resistance which in turn causes higher heat. Did you find you had to "jiggle" the cord or had the plug falling out a lot? Could you hear a sizzle in the wall?
Trying to "draw" more current than the circuit was rated for will cause heat. Whether the equiptment in that particular outlet was doing it, or something located elsewhere on the same circuit was running at the sametime. Someone running the vaccumm while the ups was on? (Tug of war for power)
If the second case being true, I would wonder why the house fuse/circuit breaker didnt trip or the fuse/breaker on the ups didnt. Notice any cycling of the ups from battery to line? Alarms?
All of a sudden type of failure? Or could you smell something going on overtime? I would suspect a slow overtime scenario. If you took a big one time "electrical" hit you would have known it.
Your additional surgeprotector is a non-issue unless it also was a "power conditioning" or "power factor correcting" device. There is a known common problem of plugging a ups into a ups and causing power problems. Mostly related to poor battery life and constant cycling.
I would put my money on the arcing of the plug in the electrical outlet.
One more thing I would venture is that these little units can cook their batteries with too much charging and the chargers going on and off frequently. Might want to to see if the battery is swollen. A constant on/off of the charging circuit if faulty "Might" cause a arc in the recepticle.
Good luck
kazzoo
Thanks for the comments. It was a slow problem. I could smell a fish-like
odor for several days, which I later realized was the smell of overheating
components in the outlet in the wall. The power demands on the UPS were low
- just one monitor, one standard computer, a modem cable, a router, tiny
speakers, and a printer that was usually in sleep mode.
Belkin remains silent. There was one attempt to call me when I was out, according to my son, but they have not replied to my recent e-mail or to my voice mail.
A friend of mine called yesterday and told me that he was having problems with a Belkin UBS hub as well - it just wasn't working properly, in spite of many calls to technical support.
Visit me @ http://www.jefflindsay.com/
You mention you have a printer on the UPS. Printers do not need battery
protection. Laser printers are always "live" and create a very large
current surge when heating up. No matter what the "voltage/amp" rating
plate states. Thats the "draw" of current only when up and printing.
Starting surge current could be two or three times that. (nice of them to
tell you that isnt it?)
Imagine it (the printer) drawing alot of current and then letting off. Either the UPS will let the "draw" pass to the line (your outlet) or will try to compensate for the change. Mostly by resisting any changes to voltage or current. Guess what, many Laser printers will also try to compensate for the power change by trying to draw even more current/voltage. Very common in what is called a switch mode powersupply. (switchmode being the changing of AC to DC) This tug of war will continue until everything stabilizes or the load changes. This will heat up cords and recepticals nicely.
I am assuming here that it is a Laser printer. You can or should put them on a surge protector alone. Or if you insist on putting them on a UPS a rule of thumb is the VA(voltamp) rating of the UPS should be at least twice the load of the printer and anything else. This could be your culprit in your configuration. Do a google on laserprinters and UPS
The only other issue I would add is to be sure your grounding is bonded to the neutral at the service pannel. Multiple returns to ground (like one on your waterpipe and one on a rod stuck in the earth somewhere) creates backdoors for electricity to travel during a surge. Makes your UPS useless.
Good luck!
(UPS tech in a former lifetime, when we used to
build em in Wisconsin)
(Now a A+ computer tech, that cant buy a job
because the foreigners got that too)
kazzoo
My comment is in response to Mr. Jeff Lindsay.
MR. Lindsay even though
he had problems with BELKIN devices, he did not follow any common sense
steps for securing his peripherals and also did not read the MANUAL OF the
UPS.
I read the comments that MR. Lindsay wrote ( at belkin)( I work at
BELKIN).)////As i read all the comments from the techs that Jeff talked
to..
When reading the manual it actually does say " All Belkin Surge
protectors must be plugged directly into the power source and must not be
Daisy-Chained together in serial fashion with other power strips, Ups,
other surge protectors or extension cords. Any such installation voids the
warranty"...SUre he had problems with a hub, no problem, if you cant get a
hold of anyone by email....THEN CALL OVER THE PHONE>>> SO YOU CAN GET A
REPLACEMENT ,,,,,BUT no he did not do that....HE voided the Warranty and he
read the manual over the phone with a tech,,,,,,
This guy just loves to
complain. with out having any actual merrit......
If the unit did fail
and if he did not void the warranty BELKIN would of not have any problems
giving him a replacement and also refund for any damages done...but, quess
what, instead of calling and speaking to a supervisor he just decided to be
rude to tech agents.........good luck to his kids, for having someone the
jumps into things without actually having the fact or following proper
procedures.....
anonymous author
Hurray! Someone from Belkin has responded, but only anonymously. Dear sir
or madam, I most certainly did ask to speak to a supervisor, and I tried
this twice. Don't your records show this? They put me on hold forever, and
then eventually they said they had a live supervisor on the line for me -
and then transferred me to someone's voice mail. I left a detailed message
for the supervisor, and he never heard back. The Belkin phone number on the
manual is a long-distance number. Reaching tech support requires lengthy
waits. You really expect people to spent 30 minutes of long-distance to
reach someone because tech support does not answer e-mail describing
problems? Why is there no response to my e-mails on problems with two
different Belkin products I've encountered?
And I certainly was not rude with tech support. I was surprised that they didn't care that their product can cause a fire and has no warning about the fire hazard. If you have a recording of my calls, I encourage you to make them available for the world to judge. I hearby authorize public release of any recorded conversations with me, as long as they are complete and unedited and I am notified of the release and given access so I can post the recordings on the Internet. Let others judge as to whether I was rude or whether Belkin has a terrible problem.
I put up with the long waits on the phone and made multiple attempts to reach people at Belkin because I am concerned that other users will face this same hazard. While there is a sentence in ordinary small type buried in the manual that says not to plug other surge protectors or power strips into the device, there is no hint that this is because of a safety problem.
No, I don't have a laser printer. My printer was in sleep mode anyway during the time when the problem was occurring - should have been almost no power draw.
Visit me @ http://www.jefflindsay.com
I came home this week to a strong sulfur odor in my house and traced it to
the Belkin UPS F6C800. AFter allowing the unit to cool, I disassembled the
unit and found the front battery melted and the rear battery deformed. So
far I have received an email telling me to contact returns, and I have left
a message with them. This battery was very close to catching on fire or
exploding. There are no other surge suppressors plugged into the
device.
Glenn
This is an occasionally occuring problem, I've had the same with an
Energizer UPS. One of the things with a UPS is that a REAL (see <$100)
UPS is constantly draining it's battery by powering the attached devices,
and recharging at the same time so that there is absolutely no down time,
this also tends to use less power and the drain is mainly to recharge tha
batteries. A UPS like your and mine dosen't use the battery until the power
kick off, then it uses the battery, otherwise it is in standby mode, so the
draw is all passed directly to the outlet. As to your outlet fire, it
appears to me that the connections might have been loose, or the outlet had
some sort of trouble and decided to go out with a bang, as I see no real
other explanation than as stated.
You failed to note that they shouldn't be be daisy chained, it should be
something in bold, becasue people dont think. The non-battery side of that
UPS is not protected by anything (simply a cheap multi-port).(i would use 1
surge protector on that side, just limit the # of devices(the amps used).
Sorry, but your problem was with your outlet, and had nothing to do with
the Belkin UPS. By the way, I don't work for Belkin, I'm just an
electrician. :-)