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Extension Cords, Power Strips and the Limits People Forget
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Extension cords and power strips are treated as furniture rather than as electrical equipment, which is how most of the problems with them start.

The first limit is that they are intended for temporary use. Permanent use is not a legal distinction so much as a practical one. Cords run under rugs, behind furniture and through doorways are subject to compression, flexing and abrasion that fixed wiring never sees. Damage accumulates where it cannot be seen.

The second limit is capacity. Cords are rated, and the rating depends on both the conductor size and the length. Voltage drop increases with length, so a long thin cord supplying a heavy load loses voltage, and the appliance draws more current to compensate, and the cord heats. A cord that is comfortable running a lamp at fifty feet is not comfortable running a heater at the same distance.

Space heaters deserve their own paragraph again here. They draw close to the full capacity of a standard circuit, continuously, for hours. Most manufacturers state plainly that they should be plugged directly into a wall outlet. The combination of a heater and a light duty extension cord is one of the more common origins of household electrical fires.

The third limit concerns power strips. A power strip with a breaker or fuse protects itself, not the circuit. Chaining strips together, or plugging a strip into another strip, defeats whatever protection each provides and produces a single point carrying the load of many devices.

Surge protecting strips have the same finite life as any surge device. The protection components degrade with use, and most strips continue to pass power after the protection is exhausted. An indicator light, where present, is worth checking.

A practical rule that avoids most trouble: if a cord is being used in the same place for more than a few weeks, the correct solution is usually an additional outlet rather than a better cord. Adding a receptacle is not an expensive job in an accessible location, and it removes the problem rather than managing it.

Warmth in a cord or a plug under load is always worth investigating.

More on this topic: found this on wheretoapp.com

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The Meter Base, Service Entrance Cable and Where Responsibility Splits
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Between the utility’s wires and the panel inside the house there is a short stretch of equipment that confuses almost everyone, because ownership changes somewhere in the middle of it and the exact point varies.

Working from outside in, the utility runs conductors to the house either overhead or underground. On an overhead service those wires terminate at a point of attachment, usually a hook or bracket bolted to the structure, and the utility’s responsibility generally ends at or just past that connection. The mast or conduit holding that attachment, the weatherhead at the top, the cable running down and the meter enclosure on the wall are normally the property owner’s equipment.

The meter itself is the utility’s. The box it plugs into, the meter base or socket, is usually not. This is the distinction that surprises people when a meter base is damaged, because the utility will pull the meter and disconnect power but will not repair the enclosure.

From the meter, service entrance conductors run to the main disconnect. Until they reach that disconnect they are not protected by any overcurrent device, which is why the run is kept as short as practical and why the code treats it with particular care.

Underground services follow the same logic with different hardware. The transformer, the buried cable and the connection at the pedestal belong to the utility. The conduit riser at the house, the meter base and everything inward belongs to the owner.

The practical consequence is worth knowing before there is a problem. Storm damage to a mast, a meter base pulling away from a wall, or a corroded service cable are all repairs that have to be arranged and paid for privately, and they require coordination because the utility has to disconnect and reconnect around the work.

Exact boundaries differ between utilities and are published in each one’s service requirements document, which is the only authority worth relying on for a specific address.

Anything touching this equipment is also a coordination job rather than a scheduling one. The meter has to be pulled and the seal broken by the utility, work happens with the house de-energised, and an inspection usually has to clear before power is restored. Planning around a day without power is part of the job.

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Outdoor Receptacles: Weather-Resistant Ratings and In-Use Covers
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An outdoor receptacle has two separate requirements, and satisfying one without the other is a very common oversight. The device itself has to be built for the environment, and the cover has to keep water out under the conditions the location actually experiences.

Weather-resistant devices are marked WR on the face or the mounting strap. They use different materials and plating chosen to resist corrosion, ultraviolet exposure and temperature swings. An ordinary indoor receptacle in an outdoor box will work for a while and then the contacts corrode, the grip weakens and the device fails. The WR marking is not decorative.

Covers divide into two categories that get confused constantly. A flip-lid cover, sometimes called a weatherproof cover, seals the receptacle when nothing is plugged in. That is acceptable only in damp locations, meaning places protected from direct rain, such as under a deep covered porch.

An in-use cover, the deeper bubble-style enclosure, keeps water out while a cord is plugged in and the lid is closed over it. Wet locations, meaning anywhere exposed to weather, require this type. The distinction matters because the whole point of an outdoor receptacle is that something will be plugged into it during weather, which is exactly when a flip-lid is standing open.

Both types need GFCI protection, either at the device or upstream, and the reason is obvious once the ground is wet. That protection is what makes an outdoor circuit survivable rather than merely functional.

The last piece is the box and its mounting. An outdoor box needs to be listed for wet locations, gasketed against the wall surface, and mounted so water runs off rather than collecting behind it. Silicone smeared around a box that was never rated for outside is not a substitute for the right enclosure.

Height and position matter as much as the hardware. A receptacle mounted low on a wall where snow piles against it, or directly under a roof edge with no gutter, will fail faster than an identical one placed sensibly. Choosing a spot that stays out of splash and runoff does more for longevity than any single component.

Further reading: more from torrentik.net