If he lives in an apartment, there are 2 or 3 different corks that control his power. If they get overloaded, they simply would not give enough power to PSU and PSU will shut down do prevent damage to MB.
I am curious, can you elaborate?
I think: either the fuse blows, or you will get your power. (or the cable will run hot) how can you not pul the amps?
It is not like a 200m cable through the garden.... so how do you want to increase the resistance, so that you canot pull your power?
well, but maybe I underestimate the low quality American wiring... 110V is just plain crap ;-)
are we talking about 110V outlets here and low quality installations?