It’s blustery and chilly out now so it’s likely you’ve brought out your space heater to help keep you snug. If so, check out our space heater safety tips. Space heaters draw a considerable amount of energy so it’s a very common problem if your space heater blows fuses. The most common cause of this is poor wiring that cannot handle the large load of energy and heat.
Daisy chain
A daisy chain is a method of wiring that loops all outlets onto the same sequence. This can help to minimize wire use in a house but if done improperly, it will not only violate code but present a fire hazard. Since all the outlets could be drawing power on the same wires at the same time, they can easily get overloaded. Usually this doesn’t cause an issue until a power hog — like a space heater — of an appliance is added to a room’s usual payload.
In cold weather seasons, space heaters are commonly the straw that breaks the camel’s back. They can cause you to blow out a fuse, trigger the breaker in your surge protector, or blow out your outlet because they simply draw too much power for your wiring to handle.
If your space heater blows fuses in your home, stop using it immediately. Continuing to overload your wires will generate excess heat, which will in turn melt the plastic and ignite your wires. Half of all home fires are caused by faulty wiring.
