Be Careful When The Power Comes Back On

When the power comes back on you might think your winter worries are over, not necessarily.<br/><br/>Diane Nofsinger says it appears some kind of power surge nearly caused a fire at her house. It happened

Monday, January 15th 2007, 7:38 pm

By: News On 6

When the power comes back on you might think your winter worries are over, not necessarily.

Diane Nofsinger says it appears some kind of power surge nearly caused a fire at her house. It happened just after the power came back on at her house. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg has the details.

After a couple of days with no electricity, Diane Nofsinger says she and her husband were happy when the lights came back on.

"We were thrilled to death until we smelled smoke," said Diane Nofsinger.

She said it had the distinctive, acrid odor of an electrical fire.

"My husband went searching through the house and found the surge protector on the computer was smoking, and the computer was turned off," Nofsinger said.

And that's what surprised her the most, that a surge protector could be overloaded with the appliance turned off.

Her husband went to the local AEP-PSO office for advice.

"And they told him to immediately shut off all power to the house at the breaker box. So he came home and did that," said Nofsinger.

PSO says there are a number of different possible causes for the problem, and they're not sure what the exact cause is yet. But the best solution to all of them, if you're power is out and you're going to be away from home for awhile, is to shut off your power at the breaker box.

Diane thought people could use that advice.

"I don't think I'm the only one that wouldn't know that," said Nofsinger.

If you lose power, PSO has these suggestions for you, disconnect all your equipment and appliances, like computers, TVs, stereos, washers and dryers. PSO says when power is restored, having these devices plugged in and on may overload your home's electrical circuits, and cause equipment damage or possibly, even a fire.

You can leave a lamp or a radio plugged in and turned on, to alert you when power is restored.