How many electronics is too many for a single outlet?

[ThereAndBackAgain]

Now, I already know the only valid answer to this question is "It depends," but it's an interesting topic.

I suspect the general populace is unaware that there are limitations on how many things can be safely plugged into a single outlet (via a surge protector or power strip), but, with that ignorance, it seems like problems should arise more often than they do, until eventually it would become "common knowledge" that you need to be careful about how many devices you are feeding with one power outlet. But that hasn't happened, unless I am mistaken. Is that because most surge protectors/power strips limit their number of outlets to about six, and most consumer devices aren't power hungry enough that six of them plugged into one outlet would cause an issue?

I have a PC (PCPartPicker estimates its wattage at 304W at full load), a 24'' monitor, a 50'' LCD TV, an Xbox Series S, a Wii U, a set of Insignia bookshelf speakers, and a Blu-ray player all plugged into one surge protector. Now, most if not all of the time, I don't have all of those things powered on at once (though often I have three to five out of seven devices powered on), and I haven't encountered any issues yet, but I wonder if I'm almost literally playing with fire with this setup.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

....I have a PC (PCPartPicker estimates its wattage at 304W at full load), a 24'' monitor, a 50'' LCD TV, an Xbox Series S, a Wii U, a set of Insignia bookshelf speakers, and a Blu-ray player all plugged into one surge protector. Now, most if not all of the time, I don't have all of those things powered on at once (though often I have three to five out of seven devices powered on), and I haven't encountered any issues yet, but I wonder if I'm almost literally playing with fire with this setup.

All of those things plugged into a single socket is just asking for a fire. Just because you haven't encountered any issues "yet" does not mean that you are safe.

 

[Gururu]

If your house is wired properly you are fine. If the draw is to great the breaker will cut the power.

 

[ThereAndBackAgain]

To err on the side of caution, I'll probably get another surge protector, feed it from another outlet, and plug half of the devices into that one. But I have had this set-up for at least a year or two and never once tripped a breaker or experienced any other issue.