Expert advice on how to use smart plugs safely this winter
Many of us will be spending more time indoors as the cold weather approaches. As we begin to find ways to stay cozy with space heaters, heated blankets, and more layers, we will put more strain on our home’s electrical system. It is important to know what you are plugging into sockets and where.
In my years of testing portable power stations and other energy monitoring devices, I’ve learned that anything that heats or cools requires a lot of power. This means that when you’re plugging in your heaters and blankets to ward off the winter chill, you might want to think twice about connecting them to a smart plug.
Basics of the home electrical system
Your home’s electrical panel is full of breakers designed to handle specific electrical loads, keeping the appliances in your home running smoothly and safely.
Smart plugs are great for many things, but even the best smart plug has limitations. In the US, our homes primarily run on 120 volts, while some appliances require 240 volts. However, the fuse box is the other part of the puzzle regarding our home’s electrical system.
Usually it is hidden in a cupboard or utility room in the basement and has a gray door. Inside are circuits that help break down your home’s electricity use into smaller chunks so your system doesn’t become overloaded. These circuits have amperage breakers. If this limit is exceeded, the circuit breaker trips and cuts off power to the connected devices to prevent possible fire.
Using an electrical monitoring device provides an additional layer of prevention to monitor your home’s system for potential problems. Products such as the Ting sensorthat is offered cooperation with a number of insurerscheck for electrical hazards more than 3000 times per second.
Certified electrician Derek Rhoades of Tradecraft Electric offered insight into our home’s circuits: “Typical electrical outlets, often called ‘receptacles,’ are usually rated at 15 and 20 amps. Amps, or ‘amperage’, generate heat as it flows through a circuit. The sockets must be able to handle the amount of amplifiers flowing through them.”
The outlets Rhoades is referring to are the ones plugged into the walls of your home. Smart plugs generally reflect the same amperage. Most smart plugs are rated at 15 amps, but some are only 10 amps.
Aside from the amplifier limitations, smart plugs also have a relatively low operating temperature. As Rhoades notes, “Heating loads, such as space heaters, can have the most damaging effects on appliances and circuits. They generate heat not only as their intended use, but also as a byproduct of the large amount of amplifiers flowing through the circuits on which they operate.”
Smart plug specifications
| Product | Overvoltage current | Maximum current | Operating temp | Operating voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leviton D215P-2RW | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| GE Cync smart plug | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| HBN smart plug | 15 | 14° – 122° F | 120 | |
| Emporia smart plug | 15 | 10 | 14° – 110° F | 120 |
| Amazon smart plug | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| ConnectSense Smart Outlet 2 | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| Enbrighten dual smart plug | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| Govee smart wifi plug | 10 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| Philips Hue smart plug | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| Wyze smart plug | 15 | 32° – 104° F | 120 | |
| Kasa Smart plug for outdoor use | 15 | 4° – 122° F | 120 | |
| Braumm smart outdoor plug | 15 | 4° – 122° F | 120 | |
| Wyze plug outside | 15 | 4° – 120° F | 120 | |
| Aeotec robust smart switch | 40 | 41° – 104° F | 220/120 | |
| Amazon Basics Smart built-in socket | 15 | 120 | ||
| Leviton Smart earth leakage circuit breaker | 20 | 15 | 120 | |
| Kasa Smart plug KP200 | 15 | 120 | ||
| Eva Energy | 15 | 32° – 95° F | 120 |
If you look at the chart above, you’ll see that the ratings for smart plugs, wired outlets, and outdoor plugs are all very similar. However, there are a number of outliers in the Aeotech rugged smart switch and the Leviton GFCI exhaust. These two offer higher amperages and, in the case of the Aeotech product, can also operate on 220 volts. But it’s not a plug; rather, it requires devices to be connected directly to the device.
Awareness of smart plugs
A Kasa smart plug is a flexible way to plan your grow light.
Just like you need to know what you’re plugging into extension cords and power strips, the same goes for your smart plugs. Most space heaters, including those on our best space heaters list, have a maximum wattage of 1,500. It is important to know how much electricity an appliance uses and which circuit breaker you connect it to.
For example, if your 1000-watt microwave is connected to a circuit with a 20-amp breaker and you then plug in your space heater, there is a risk of overloading that circuit if both appliances are running at the same time.
Looking back at the chart from earlier, all those 15-amp smart plugs match up well with the 15- and even 20-amp circuit breakers your home uses. However, smart plugs are not as durable as the wired outlets in the walls of your home. “A 15-amp appliance can handle 1,800 watts, but an appliance with that much wattage should only be used at that level for short periods of time, up to three hours,” says Rhoades.
“If the load you plan to connect to a 15 amp appliance is greater than 1,500 and will run for an extended period of time, it should adhere to a maximum of about 80% of that full load, which equates to 1,440 watt.”
I use a dual fan setup with smart plugs and sensors on my Samsung SmartThings smart hub.
Space heaters have benefits, but certain steps must be taken to use them safely. Most smart plugs can handle a space heater. When choosing your heater and where you connect it to, ensure that the heater’s power requirement, typically 1,500 watts at high level, is and that the socket or plug is high enough to safely meet the heater’s electrical consumption to be able to.
If you use a smart plug, try to buy one with a rating of more than 15 amps, but that is relatively uncommon. Another way to reduce the risk of problems is to set the heating to a lower setting, which requires less power. However, if you use two space heaters on the same outlet, even on lower power settings, the circuit will be overloaded because you would be doubling the power requirement.
