Greetings,
I figured that the Safety section was the best place to put something like this.
I've been having a discussion with a client of mine about the use of portable power splitter boxes, or sometimes called spider boxes. The fellow is in business doing property damage restoration, and he is always in need of more receptacle outlets to run his fans, dehumidifiers, etc. that are drying out houses with water damage.
Up here in New England, every old house usually has the three-wire type of range / dryer outlet instead of the new 4-wire type. He wants to use a box like this ( http://mytee.com/products/product.php?id=5003 ) to plug his equipment into. You can't see it too well, but there are two duplex receptacles with a little 20 amp push-button circuit breaker for each duplex outlet, which is supplied from a 3-wire 30 amp cord cap.
I told him to make sure that number one, regardless of using this box or not, that everything he plugs in should be GFCI-protected because it's a wet environment. I also told him that using a 3-wire type of power splitter box is a bad idea, mainly because the ground and neutral must be shared, and that might present problems.
His thought is "It's a product that's sold on the market, so it must be safe to use." My thought is, it's the wrong application for this thing. I'm surprised they can even sell it.
My questions to the forum are these:
1) Will a GFCI device trip if plugged into a splitter box like the one shown in the link above? (Because of the shared neutral.)
2) Does using a splitter box like this present any danger or hazards?
3) I saw the device that he purchased, and there is no UL label (or any listing of any type) on the unit. Does this matter?
Thank you,
Doug
I figured that the Safety section was the best place to put something like this.
I've been having a discussion with a client of mine about the use of portable power splitter boxes, or sometimes called spider boxes. The fellow is in business doing property damage restoration, and he is always in need of more receptacle outlets to run his fans, dehumidifiers, etc. that are drying out houses with water damage.
Up here in New England, every old house usually has the three-wire type of range / dryer outlet instead of the new 4-wire type. He wants to use a box like this ( http://mytee.com/products/product.php?id=5003 ) to plug his equipment into. You can't see it too well, but there are two duplex receptacles with a little 20 amp push-button circuit breaker for each duplex outlet, which is supplied from a 3-wire 30 amp cord cap.
I told him to make sure that number one, regardless of using this box or not, that everything he plugs in should be GFCI-protected because it's a wet environment. I also told him that using a 3-wire type of power splitter box is a bad idea, mainly because the ground and neutral must be shared, and that might present problems.
His thought is "It's a product that's sold on the market, so it must be safe to use." My thought is, it's the wrong application for this thing. I'm surprised they can even sell it.
My questions to the forum are these:
1) Will a GFCI device trip if plugged into a splitter box like the one shown in the link above? (Because of the shared neutral.)
2) Does using a splitter box like this present any danger or hazards?
3) I saw the device that he purchased, and there is no UL label (or any listing of any type) on the unit. Does this matter?
Thank you,
Doug
