Nearly fried a server rack at a client site in Austin last week

I was swapping out PSUs on a Dell PowerEdge R740 and forgot to check the circuit load first. The breaker tripped and killed power to their whole network closet for 20 minutes. Now I always carry a kill-a-watt meter to verify before I touch anything. Anyone else had a close call with a power strip daisy chain situation?

2 comments

2 Comments

william32029d ago

That "forgot to check the circuit load first" part hits close to home lol. I had a similar thing happen at a small law office where someone had a power strip daisy chained to another strip with a mini fridge plugged in. Nobody thinks about the fridge cycling on and drawing way more amps until everything goes dark. The thing is, those Kill-A-Watt meters are great but they only tell you the draw at that exact moment. I had to learn the hard way that you gotta watch a circuit for like 10-15 minutes with stuff running to catch the peak load. Most people just glance and move on without realizing the fridge or some old laser printer could kick on and double the load right when you're unplugging something.

sandra_black29d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I gotta be honest @william320, I used to think a quick glance at a Kill-A-Watt meter was good enough. I was totally wrong. Ngl, I never even thought about how a fridge or an old printer can surge way past what they normally draw. It makes total sense now, but back then I was just checking the load once and calling it done. Your point about watching a circuit for 10 or 15 minutes really changed how I look at things now. I'm way more careful about catching those peak loads, and it's saved me from some nasty surprises.