Today I started smelling something really awful coming from behind my desk, like a rotten-egg sulfur type smell. But it was tinged with a slight metallic burn, very hard to describe, something that made me think it was electrical in nature. But it was very hard to localize.
After a little sniffing around the office, I determined there was a corner of the room that definitely smelled worse than anywhere else, right where I had two UPSs and a power strip which provide power to that quarter of the office (driven off of two outlets).
So immediately, everything gets unplugged. I'm taking no chances. And I start sniffing the devices as I pull them off of the power.
The culprit? A Belkin UPS, barely a year old, which had started belching forth this horrible odor, and was getting worse even as I stood there holding it.
Fortunately, I was home today, and it didn't have a chance to really funkify the house (at best) or catch fire (at worst); I suspect the UPS was on the way to meltdown, and it was really lucky I was home.
Doing a little research on the Web, seems I'm not the only one to have issues with Belkin UPSs. This guy discusses a meltdown, but doesn't specifically talk about the odor, but someone in the comments says:
That's exactlywhat happened to mine -- sans taking it apart. I'm not going to bother. It's already outside, and the next stop for it is the recycling center that can process dead batteries.
I will never, ever buy another Belkin UPS. I quite like my Nostromo keypad (which is made by Belkin), so I can't quite say I won't buy anything Belkin. Only things that have the potential to go up in flames. :-)
ObRec: I do like MGE UPSs, now acquired by APC, whom I've had mixed luck with in terms of reliability (but never had an APC unit emit foul odors!), so I'll stick with them from now on.
After a little sniffing around the office, I determined there was a corner of the room that definitely smelled worse than anywhere else, right where I had two UPSs and a power strip which provide power to that quarter of the office (driven off of two outlets).
So immediately, everything gets unplugged. I'm taking no chances. And I start sniffing the devices as I pull them off of the power.
The culprit? A Belkin UPS, barely a year old, which had started belching forth this horrible odor, and was getting worse even as I stood there holding it.
Fortunately, I was home today, and it didn't have a chance to really funkify the house (at best) or catch fire (at worst); I suspect the UPS was on the way to meltdown, and it was really lucky I was home.
Doing a little research on the Web, seems I'm not the only one to have issues with Belkin UPSs. This guy discusses a meltdown, but doesn't specifically talk about the odor, but someone in the comments says:
I came home this week to a strong sulfur odor in my house and traced it to the Belkin UPS F6C800. AFter allowing the unit to cool, I disassembled the unit and found the front battery melted and the rear battery deformed. So far I have received an email telling me to contact returns, and I have left a message with them. This battery was very close to catching on fire or exploding. There are no other surge suppressors plugged into the device.
That's exactlywhat happened to mine -- sans taking it apart. I'm not going to bother. It's already outside, and the next stop for it is the recycling center that can process dead batteries.
I will never, ever buy another Belkin UPS. I quite like my Nostromo keypad (which is made by Belkin), so I can't quite say I won't buy anything Belkin. Only things that have the potential to go up in flames. :-)
ObRec: I do like MGE UPSs, now acquired by APC, whom I've had mixed luck with in terms of reliability (but never had an APC unit emit foul odors!), so I'll stick with them from now on.
Comments
(My APC UPSs have been running fine since, btw. No smell, no explosions. :-))
Thanks again for your post!
Got a Rosewill RU101 UPS as well. Plugged it in yesterday and today it is giving the same smell. This may have to be returned as well.
Probably a better idea to stick to APC brand (had 3 of those without any problem for a few years)
I've also really had great luck with MGE, but now MGE is part of APC so even more reason just to go with APC.
I have replaced all Belkin devices that contain batteries with APC. So far, so good.. :-)
Just before bed, husband discovered stink was coming from his APC UPS!!!!!! Good grief- are these things a fire hazard????? It was put outside last night & the stench in his office disappeared.
Fortunately none of my replacement UPSs since the incident I posted about have combusted spontaneously. :-)
Their APC Smart-UPS 1500 RM (rack mount) UPS was showing failed battery. I ordered new ones, and when I pulled out the old ones (hard to do because of the deformation), was shocked to see that 2 out of the 4 batteries in the pack were heavily-deformed, and one was slightly deformed. Noone said anyting about the smell, but it could be due to it being in the back room.
I never had to replace batteries in a rackmount unit yet. all the apc tower UPSs I've serviced looked fine when I took them out...weird.
The one that I had in my office was powering a small laptop when it really started to smell. The bottom was becoming a liquid and was too hot to touch. I disconnected it and carefully removed the case with a hammer. The transformer in the lower, front was incredibly hot, well over 100 C. I know this because not only did water immediately boil off of it, it boiled off of it FIFTEEN MINUTES after being unplugged.
After that I pulled the three that were on the servers. The plastic casing around the transfer on each and every one was brown and deformed.
I refuse to buy any Belkin product.