Short curcuit kills computer

WhoX

WhoX

Active Member
Last night my daughter tried to fish something out of a live toaster with a metal fork. Needless to say the fork came in contact with some of the toasters vital organs and a short curcuit occured. The house and everything in it went dark. My computer is on a surge protector, but this didn't protect it from the wrath of the toaster. I lost the power supply and the motherboard. I'm not an electrician, and I'm a little baffled as to how a short circuit from the toaster could jump the external surge protector and the power supply's own built in surge protector and kill the motherboard.

Later today I will be purchasing new parts to replace the toasted ones. The system was a socket 1155 with an i3 CPU, I'll be replacing it with a Socket 1150 motherboard and an i5 processor. I've chosen a more expensive PSU, not because of the power output, but because of the 48 hour replacement guarantee.

edit: Instead of an i5 I decided to purchase a new i3. I threw in a SSD to improve on the performance.
 
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porterjw

porterjw

Spaminator
Staff member
That sucks:( Wiring can be odd sometimes, especially in older places (not sure if that's the case where you are). Someone plugged an iPhone to charge once at an outlet in the kitchen at one of my accounts. They were so maxed out power-wise that as soon as they plugged it in, the main fuse on incoming L3 blew.

At least you're upgrading as a result.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Would you say... it was toast.. ? :D

That sounds crazy though that it would impact the entire house, how does everything terminate circuit-wise in your place? Also, glad she was OK and not hurt at all by it.
 
WhoX

WhoX

Active Member
My brother-in-law, who is an electrician, explained to me what happened and what I did wrong. After my daughter stuck the fork in the toaster, the main circuit breaker reacted the way it was meant to by shutting everything down. This was to prevent an overload to the rest of the house. I asked him why it just didn't trip the breaker for the kitchen, but truthfully my understanding of electrical engineering in German isn't very impressive, so his explanation kind of went over my head. I did understand that I should have unplugged the PC from the surge protector before turning the breaker back on, something I failed to do. Supposedly the surge protector was still charged when I turned on the computer and some components got zapped.
 
S

smellsorange

Member
I would think that the outlets in the kitchen should be GFCI anyways?

Surge protectors don't get "charged" that sounds very wonky.
 
WhoX

WhoX

Active Member
smellsorange said:
I would think that the outlets in the kitchen should be GFCI anyways?
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They are. But I'm not really the person to explain why the breakers function the way they do here in Germany. Not an electrician.

smellsorange said:
Surge protectors don't get "charged" that sounds very wonky.
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My German isn't perfect, I can only assume this is what my brother-in-law was talking about.

Surge protectors aren’t like diamonds. They have a definite lifespan. At some point, your surge protector will stop protecting your gear from power surges and become a dumb power strip.

It’s difficult to tell exactly when a surge protector loses those protective powers and just functions as a power strip. But, if you’re still using an old surge protector you purchased ten years ago, it’s probably long past time to replace it.

Surge protectors aren’t magic. When they receive a power surge from the electrical outlet they’re plugged into, they have to do something with that extra voltage to get rid of it and shield the connected devices from it.

A typical surge protector uses a component called a metal oxide varistor (MOV). When the voltage spikes, the surge protector effectively diverts that extra voltage to the MOV component. This component degrades when it’s exposed to either a small number of large surges or a larger number of smaller surges. The additional energy doesn’t damage your devices — it stays in the surge protector, where it degrades the MOV.

In other words, your surge protector can only absorb so many surges before it stops functioning as a surge protector and starts functioning as a dumb power strip that’ll let everything through to your devices.

Surge protectors are rated in joules, and this tells you how much protection they’re desigend to provide. For example, you might get a 1000 joule surge protector. This is a measure of a total amount of energy a surge protector can absorb before the protection wears out and it stops absorbing any extra voltage.

Every power surge your surge protector absorbs decreases the amount of future joules it absorbs. if that 1000 joule surge protector takes an 1000 joule hit, it’s done for. But it’s also done for if it takes ten 100 joule hits — or if it takes a thousand one joule hits. It’s all cumulative.

Surge protector lifespans aren’t measured in years — they’re measured in joules. It’s all about how many joules your surge protector has absorbed. But, the older your surge protector is, the more it’s likely degraded.

It’s practically impossible to tell exactly when a surge protector stops functioning as intended. Some surge protectors have built-in lights that are designed to alert you to this problem and inform you when the protector needs to be replaced. However, you can’t necessarily rely on these lights. It’s not a foolproof system

If your surge protector is warning you that it’s no longer protecting you or asking you to replace it, you should probably get a new surge protector. But don’t assume your decade-old surge protector is still working properly because the warning light hasn’t come on yet.

So when is it time to replace that surge protector? Well, the longer it’s been, the more at risk you are. If you know your surge protector has absorbed a serious power surge, you should probably replace it immediately.

There’s no exact lifespan we can give you, and it varies from area to area — it depends how many surges occur in your area as well as how many joules your protector can absorb. Many people recommend replacing a surge protector every two years or so, but any recommendation like this one can only be a rule of thumb.
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Quote from How-To-Geek
 
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