[malcolm]

HI there,
I have just one outlet (two plugs) in my small office, and many more pieces of hardware to plug in. Computer, four external hard drives, two printers, a scanner, USB hubs, speakers... etc., so my solution has been multiple power bars, most of them with surge protection.
I asked an electrician if it was a problem, having everything plugged into these two plugs, and he said no.
On the advice of various people on this forum, I went out and got a UPS with automated voltage regulation, so I'm about to unplug one string of power bars, to plug this thing in. I'll then plug the most important items (eg. computer and key hard drives) into five of the six outlets on this unit, and plug the (somewhat shorter) string of power bars into the last outlet.
I asked my electrician, but he may not know much about computer equipment, so I'd like to ask here:
am I safe doing what I'm doing, or am I asking for trouble or, since I've got surge protection protecting surge protection ad infinitum (almost) am I safe even if I'm asking for trouble?
thanks for any advice,
Malcolm

[ghoti]

It simply depends on how much power everything draws. As long as the power sockets can provide enough power and the cables can handle it, it's not such a big problem to have power strips plugged into each other. Though I would do that in a star shape, i.e., have one power strip that all other power strips plug into, not daisy-chain them. That distributes the power better and there are fewer parts that are under a high load.

Same for the UPS: How much power can that provide? If it's a decent one, it should warn you and shut itself off if you're trying to draw too much. But a quick calculation should tell you if all your pieces of equipment combined are too much for the UPS (they generally have some information about typical power need on the power adapter or near the power plug).

[scratt]

I seem to remember at some point in the UK a move to make this illegal.
I am pretty sure that some plug blocks are now illegal even by themselves!

It is ill advised to do it, but ghoti's comments about working out the maximum possible load are good advice, and the bare minimum you should do.

Having said that my house is littered with un-earthed power bars all chanined together! But then we seem to live in a different reality in Asia!

[Fahrenheit]

Send my regards to your cat with a mop.

[Bryson]

If you need to ask, don't do it.

It is technically possible, but prone to accidental abuse. Even if you know what everything is drawing, what happens when the wife comes along and plugs in the Hoover to it...?

[turtle]

The real concern would be if your breaker and wiring can handle the current load. I'm sure that one outlet isn't the only thing the breaker feeds. All items downstream from the breaker can't top the circuit breakers max load. Normally they run about 15-20 amps. Wire gage then comes into play too.

Should you, no. Will it cause a problem, maybe though unlikely. All your items would have to hit full load (ie. start up current) and the breaker not trip like it's designed to do. If your breaker starts to trip on occasion, don't add more and see what you can pear off.

The problem and concern is overloading the components causing them to overheat and short. This causes the fire that's warned against. If you are going to do this, make sure you use the highest quality and highest gage power strips to support the load.