We usually plug our portable dehumidifier at one end of our basement directly into a wall socket using a 3-prong adapter. The other day I plugged it into one of those 6-outlet surge protectors in order to place it on the other end of the basement. Well a strange burning smell became evident fairly quickly and the rubber 3-prong adapter melted! Does this indicate a problem with the dehumidifer or with the surge protector strip? Thanks in advance.
open the surge protector and look , if only the plug got hot its probably the strip.
It indicates that you were using an adapter that is meant for the temporary connection of a grounded load to a grounded wiring method that serves an old two wire receptacle as a long term substitute for the installation of grounded receptacles. The contact blades of the adapters are not rigidly held. I suspect that when you plugged in the adapter the blades were not making good contact and the resultant arcing generated the heat that melted the adapter.
The only completely safe way of using these adapters is to test for a low impedance ground and then connect the grounding tab to the grounded strap or yoke of the receptacle.
I also suspect that if you look you will find that the adapter was not needed to plug into the temporary power tap that contains the surge protector. Do you also have that three wire power tap plugged into an adapter?
-- Tom
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