When considering the purchase of an air purifier, many opt for the convenience of plug-in models.
These compact devices are designed to remain plugged into a wall outlet continuously, functioning similarly to plug-in air fresheners, such as those by Glade.
However, their design, particularly the bulky plug component, often means they monopolize a standard two-plug outlet, preventing use of the second plug. This can be problematic in homes where outlet availability is limited, leading to reliance on power strips to accommodate multiple devices.
But can an air purifier, especially a regular-sized one, be safely plugged into a power strip?
Table of Contents
Can an air purifier be plugged into a power strip?
An air purifier can be plugged into a power strip. Most air purifiers are between the 50 and 200 w range.
And the typical power strip handles 1800 watts, the same is the outlet it’s plugged into.
So with a little basic math, you can see that an air purifier will run fine on a power strip.
But should you?
Power strip safety
Though an air purifier by itself is not enough to overload a power strip, since the air purifier is made to stay on constantly, it does reduce the amount of power that can be continually used on the power strip.
And plugging too many things into a power strip that stay on all the time can overload a power strip.
Power strip danger
If you ever have seen a power strip that is burnt, you were probably thinking that the whole point of the power strip was to shut off if it were overloaded.
That is wrong.
Power strips do not have a surge protection function.
They are simply a way for you to get more outlets out of a single electrical plug.
Which means that a power strip can be inherently dangerous and if it can get so hot that it burns and melts the power strip, it can get hot enough to start a fire in the house or office.
An easy solution, though a bit more costly, is to use surge protectors instead of power strips.
They are a safety device first, that will not allow you to plug too many things into it that will catch it on fire.
The little extra you spend on a surge detector is well worth the investment to protect your appliances and more so your home or office from catching fire.
Summary
Can an air purifier be plugged into a power strip?
Air purifiers do not use enough Watts to overpower a power strip.
Especially the small outlet plug-in air purifiers, which are basically a UV light.
But since they are designed to stay on continuously, they take away from the amount of Watts that you can safely use on the power strip.
And against popular opinion, power strips are not made to shut off if they are overloaded. You may have seen a power strip that is burnt and wonder why it didn’t shut off before it got burnt.
The answer is that it was not made to be an overload protection device. A power strip is simply a way to multiply the amount of items that you can plug into a single outlet.
Surge protectors look very similar to a power strip and they do the same job of multiplying the amount of things that you can plug into a single outlet,
But they have an important difference in that they are actually made to prevent a surge of electricity that would cause a fire.
If you are short on wall outlets, instead of picking up the 2-pack cheap power strip package,
Consider spending the little extra for a surge protector that can not only protect your devices, but ultimately can protect you from harm.
