Extension Cords

Voltage drop across electrical wires is really no different than water pressure loss in your water supply lines. The electrical current encounters friction as it tries to travel great distances. This friction reduces the energy level of the electrical current. Voltage drop doesn't hurt things like light bulbs. They just burn with less intensity. However, electrical motors react differently. To offset voltage drop you simply use large gauge wires that can deliver the required power at the end of the wire run.

Mr. Ohm and His Law

A scientist, who lived in the early 1800's named George Simon Ohm, discovered an interesting mathematical relationship concerning electricity. The formula he discovered is very simple. It simply states that if you multiply volts times amps you get watts. For example, say you have 120 volts and a motor that draws 15 amps while running. 1,800 watts are used while this motor spins.

So what does this have to do with voltage drop and extension cords? I'll cut to the chase. Mathematical formulas dictate that if you adjust one value on one side of the equation up or down, you have to adjust another value on the same side so that the total stays the same.

This means that if there is a voltage drop, the amperage must go up to compensate for the voltage loss. When the amperage goes up in an electrical motor, it can cause the wires in the motor winding to overheat. This in turn causes the insulation on those wires to melt which leads to motor failure.

So if you power your new circular saw, table saw, hedge trimmer, etc. with a wimpy extension cord, you may be causing damage to the motor windings.

Flexible Cords - A Reality!

Who among use hasn't cursed those wicked orange extension cords that will not coil neatly in our hands? Older homeowners remember extension cords that were supple. The outer insulation in these black beauties had high rubber content. The vulcanized rubber made them very resistant to chemicals and allowed the cords to flex with ease in the coldest temperatures.

The advent of cheap plastics 20 years ago lead to a flood of "safety" orange poly-vinyl chloride(PVC) insulated extension cords. Sure there were some advantages to using PVC (don't ask me what they are), but those never made up for the rat's nest of tangled wire one has when the temperature drops to 20 degrees!

Fortunately, you can still buy a super high quality rubber extension cord or two. The black cord has been replaced with a brilliant amphibian green color. It is both flexible and environmental!

Extension Cord Accessories

Have you ever plugged in an extension cord, walked 100 feet and then had no power? That can be aggravating. What if I told you that you could have a cord with a built-in light at the end of the cord? The light would glow when you have power.

How about a short extension cord that has a built in circuit breaker? Or one that has a built-in safety ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) breaker? This is what is now available in cords. Many of these features were not readily available four years ago - at least not to homeowners like you and me.

You can even buy an extension cord that powers different accessories like trouble lights. Instead of buying several different lights all with different cords, why not buy one cord and then plug in the lights and other accessories into the single high quality cord? The person who thought of that should get the rest of the week off!

Storage Tips for Cords

Do you have an extension cord that is twisted and distorted? It probably has been wrapped around your hand and elbow a few times. This will really mess up a PVC cord that contains filler fibers within the cord. The filler fibers are inserted to separate the wires and give it a more round appearance. They also bind and twist if you coil the cord improperly.

The best way to wrap up a cord is to use a method similar to the way a cowboy coils a lasso rope. You hold the cord in one hand and make successive loops . You need to twist the wire as you make the loops or it will start making figure 8's in your hand.

Another handy device is a cord rewinder or retractor. You can store an extension cord without twists if you wind it up on a factory made spool or one you make yourself. This is the same way the lawn chemical companies store their spray hoses.

Another simple method of storing an extension cord is to coil it within a 5 gallon drywall bucket. Be sure to remove the joint compound first or you will have a real mess on your hands! I know, make sure I don't quit my day job to become a comedian.

Column B174

Extension Cords Manufacturers and Features

I was asked to write this column by my editor at the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the time, I felt that it would not be a problem obtaining information about something as simple as extension cords. Guess what? I was wrong!

There are probably many extension cord manufacturers. If so, it is tough to find them. I was only able to locate two! One of them happens to be the biggest player in the market place - General Cable Corporation. They make an unbelievable assortment of high quality extension cords and accessories. The astonishing thing is that they are located just 15 miles from my house and I never knew it. The other manufacturer is Leviton. Unfortunately, all I can give you is a phone number. I made repeated efforts to obtain information and product descriptions. Nothing was ever forwarded to me. I hope you have better luck than me!

• General Cable Corporation
  800-382-4730
  From what I gather General Cable Corporation is the leader in the extension cord industry. Their cords are distributed nationally in virtually every hardware store chain or major home center. You should not have trouble finding them. The cords and accessories are OFTEN sold under the trademarks: CAROL, FROGHIDE, ULTRA FLEX and ROMEX.

  General Cable's cords are marketed in four categories:

  FrogHide - This is the best rubber cord you can buy. Its flexibility and durability is unmatched. The plug ends are molecularly bonded so the ends should not fall off! It has a distinctive green color so look for it where extension cords are sold. It sports a FULL LIFETIME WARRANTY - I've never seen another cord that offers this.

  Lighted Yellow - This is cord that has a blend of rubber and vinyls (I think...). Its flexibility is great at room temperature, but only so-so at low temperatures. It has a cool clear female end that glows when the cord is plugged into a working power source.

  All Weather Blue - This cord is made to be flexible at cold temperatures. Believe it or not, at room temperature it is unruly - I know as I own one! These cords are the exact opposite of the standard orange PVC cords that probably every homeowner has!

  Round Orange - This is the old standby orange PVC cord. It is flexible when the temperature is above 60 degrees or so. But when it gets cold, forget about coiling this one up!

  General Cable Corporation also makes the extension cords that have circuit breakers in the cord, ones that have safety GFCI circuit breakers within the cord, multiple head cords, extension cords that have interchangeable accessories, and other cord accessories. You absolutely must give them a call to find where you can purchase their products locally. You will not be disappointed, that I can assure you!

• Leviton
  800-824-3005
  Leviton also makes extension cords. However, after repeated attempts, I was unable to get information. I hope that you can do better than me.

Column B174

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to figure out why a 3 way or 4 way light switch system doesn't work. Years ago, I got a severe brain cramp one day trying to hook up two switches. After I consulted some books, it became crystal clear how to do it. Ever since that day, I have memorized the wiring diagram to successfully hook up 3 & 4 way switches.

***Click here for great wiring diagrams!***

How to Wire a 3 Way Switch Video

Separate Holes

Avoid the temptation of running your telephone wires in the same holes as high voltage wiring. This is the first mistake I often see. This practice places the telephone wire parallel and in close proximity with the high voltage wiring. This in turn can lead to interference on the telephone wire. When electricity flows through the higher voltage wire, it can sometimes induce an electromagnetic field in the telephone wire.

Try to stay at least 16 to 24 inches away, if possible from high voltage wires. This can often only be accomplished by drilling a separate set of holes for the phone wires. Don't drill less than a 3/8 inch hole.

Wire Type / Size

Use UL approved twisted pair solid conductor wire. 22 or 24 gauge is preferred. I highly recommend that you use 6 conductor wire instead of 4 conductor. This means that 6 wires are bundled together inside the outer insulation. Why the need for the extra two? I like to have at least two separate phone possibilities available at each outlet with a spare pair in case of a wire failure. This can only be accomplished with 6 conductor wire.

Home Runs..... No, not like Baseball...!

A home run in wiring refers to a single cable that leads from a central junction point to an individual outlet location. It does this without stopping at any other outlet location on the way. Your phone cables should all be home runs. Most electricians run the cable in a series. In other words, they wire from the central phone location to and through each outlet location. This practice limits your ability to isolate trouble. It also doesn't let you turn off a phone in a separate room without penalizing other downstream phones.

Stripping Insulation

You should purchase the inexpensive special wire strippers for low voltage wiring. They do a great job. However, the hardest insulation to remove is the outer cable insulation which surrounds all the inner wires. You MUST carefully remove this without scoring or removing insulation from the inner wires. This can be tough to do. I remove the outer insulation by gently using only partial pressure on the wire stripper's largest setting. This allows you to partially cut through the insulation. While applying this pressure, I pull the stripper towards the end of the wire. The insulation then rips apart without scoring any of the inner wires.

Attaching Wires to Screws

Did you know there is a right and a wrong way to attach wires around screws? If you do it incorrectly, the wire will unwind as you tighten the screw. As you look at the screw head, always wrap the wire around the screw in a clockwise fashion. Do not wrap the wire around the shaft of the screw several turns. In fact, the wire only needs to wrap around the screw just a little less then one turn. Try to minimize the amount of insulation you remove from each individual wire as well. Exposed wires can touch one another when you jam them into the box when you screw the outlet to the box. If the wires touch, it can short out the connection.

Column B155

Telephone Wiring Tips

Installing telephone cable is really a treat, especially if you have been running 12 gauge high voltage cable all day. The telephone cable is easy to pull and work with. The only challenge I find is removing the outer insulation which covers and protects the individual wires within the cable. This is where most rookies get into trouble. We will talk about this in a few moments, so be patient.

Modems or Teenagers

The phone companies are being inundated for requests for additional phone lines in residences. The reasons vary, however in most cases it boils down to a computer modem or a teenager who needs a phone connection. Some houses have as many as three or four phone lines, especially those where a person works at home like me!

If you find yourself in this spot and wish to save some money, then I suggest you take care of installing the phone line once the phone company has installed the outside cable and junction device inside your home. Phone cables can be successfully installed by just about anyone.

Two Wires is All it Takes

Most people shy away from phone work because they see all of the multi colored wires at the phone outlet and at the junction box. Relax! Only two wires power your phone, fax machine, or modem. The phone cable that comes from the street into your house either has two wires or contains several pairs of wires. My house has an underground cable which I installed. It happens to contain five pairs of wires or 10 wires in all. As long as all the wires are good, this means I can have five separate phone lines feeding into my house.

Four Pair Minimum for Your Line

If you are getting ready to extend a new cable from your phone junction box or where the phone company installed/terminated your new line, you should use a minimum of 4 or 6 conductor cable. What's that? It is simply a single cable that contains 4 or 6 separate wires. Why waste the other two wires? Well, you may not waste them. You may install another phone at a later date, or, you may have to use one of the wires in case one of the other wires you intended to use is defective.

Older houses often contain 4 conductor "quad" cable. This cable often contains four wires which are solid in color. The wire colors are almost always red, green, yellow, and black. If you decide to use these wires, you will not obtain the highest quality voice or data signal.

Modern phone cable for residential houses contains individual wires that are 22 or 24 gauge in size, band striped for identification purposes, and arranged in twisted pairs. The twisting of the 2 wires around one another enables the quality of the signal to stay at a very high level.

Point A to Point B

Running cables in an existing house can be a challenge. Some people will leave phone wire exposed and run it along baseboard. Phone company installers did this for years. In fact, they had a nifty little staple gun that allowed them to neatly do this task. I would only do this as a last resort. Phone cable is somewhat fragile. It really could use as much protection as possible. Try to run it within walls when possible.

If you are trying to get a cable from one floor to another, or say from the attic to the basement in a ranch house, find the plumbing stack location. Often I have had great success in dropping a nail attached to a string from the attic to the basement right alongside a plumbing stack. The plumbers almost always cut the flooring or plates out with extra room to spare. If you jiggle the string, the nail drops right down into the basement.

Making a Test Outlet

A pair of alligator clips attached to wires that lead to the back of a modular outlet allows you to make a crude copy of those cool little phones you see the phone installer wear on their tool belts. This setup allows you to clip onto the ends of wires within your house or at the phone company termination block to see if you can generate a dial tone. This little setup can be made for less than $8 in most cases and allows you to use a standard phone to test your lines.

Make sure that the alligator clips do not touch one another when in use. If they touch, the line will short out and you will get nothing but static, disconnected, or both.

I like to make the leads on the alligator clips about 16 inches long. The wires leading from the ends of the alligator clips hook up to the green and red wires on the back of the modular outlet. These two wires are almost always traced to the center two wires or conductors of the modular outlets and mini plugs.

When not in use, store this outlet and the alligator clips in a self sealing clear plastic food freezer storage bag. The bag keeps it clean and you can always see the contents!

Column B155

Existing Outlets - but Which Wires Work?

Do you have an existing phone outlet location with a mass of tangled wires inside? Which ones work? The wires should be color coded. If you have only one phone line in the house, it should be easy.

Go to the phone line termination board. This is where your inside phone cables meet up with the outside phone line. Look to see which color wires hook up with the phone wire that comes in from the street. This is your first clue. If the same color wires are back at the outlet you are trying to activate, connect them up.

Hopefully you will get a dial tone. If not, go to all the other phone outlets in the house to see if these wires have been connected to the wires in those outlets that you know in fact work. This is often the problem - the wires you need to work are simply disconnected at another phone outlet.

Older Phone Equipment - Can't Break Dial Tone

Are you attempting to connect an older phone? No problem, as many phones will last and last. However, you possibly will hook up the phone outlet and find that you get a dial tone but when you attempt to dial, nothing happens. You have the polarity of the wires reversed. Simply switch the two wires around on the back of the outlet screws and you will solve the problem. This problem lies in the older phone equipment. Newer phones are usually not sensitive to this polarity problem. That is, it makes no difference if the wires are reversed.

Crackling and Static in the Lines

After you hook up your new line, you may experience static or crackling. Guess what, the problem may not be in your phone line! It may be in the phone company wires. To see if the problem is in the phone company wires, connect your test outlet to the wires that come in from the street. If you still hear the crackling and you know the phone does not make this sound when hooked to another phone line, the problem is most likely the phone company's. I had this happen to me when I installed an extra phone line for my computer three years ago.

If the problem is within your house and wiring, it can almost always be traced to locations where bare wires are touching one another. Be absolutely certain that the insulation of the individual conductors has not been pierced where you stripped the outer cable casing off. This is usually where shorts are found. You have to look closely. If you find a short, try to place some electrical tape around the nick in the wire(s).

Try to use new wire for computer lines. Older wiring may give you fits in trying to locate a short. The extra time spent running a new line is well worth it. Your modem transmissions will get garbled with static in the lines.

Column B155

Circuit Breakers

Circuit breakers are so common today that many people take them for granted. They are the silent guardians of our household electrical systems. Without circuit breakers, the possibility of electrical fires would dramatically increase.

Prior to the advent of circuit breakers, fuses were used to protect the wiring in houses. Many people fail to realize that the wiring which originates in the fuse or circuit panel and terminates at each receptacle, switch, or fixture must be protected. Fuses and circuit breakers serve this purpose.

Short Circuits & Fire

The wiring which allows us so many conveniences has to be insulated. This insulation not only prevents you from being electrocuted, but also prevents wires from short circuiting. Short circuits occur when a wire energized by single phase 120 volt current touches a ground or neutral wire without the benefit of resistance.

When a wire short circuits, the electricity flows extremely rapidly through the wire. It's not much different than you pushing the accelerator in your car to the floor. Things can rapidly go out of control. This rapid flow of electricity creates friction which in turn creates heat. The heat can quickly melt the insulation covering the wire.

This heat can easily start a fire. Also, short circuits often create sparks. The heat is incredible. In fact, anyone who has witnessed a welder using an arc welder has seen a continuous short circuit. The short circuit is somewhat controlled in that the welding rod is used to 'control' the direction and flow of the electricity.

Resistance = 'Yellow Light'

We all know that electricity flows through wires, because we have to pay for it. However, what is different about this flow of electricity as opposed to the flow during a short circuit?

The difference is speed. When electricity encounters an electrical motor, a light bulb, an oven or toaster heating element, it has a tough time getting through those materials. In other words, it slows down. The heat or energy that otherwise would have arc welded is now being put to work for good purposes. That's it in a nutshell.

Wire Capacity

Electric wires are available in different sizes. They are sized according to their thickness. This is often referred to in the industry as its 'gauge.' Common household wiring is usually 14 and sometimes 12 gauge.

The numbering system used for these gauges is somewhat confusing. As the gauge number gets higher, the wire gets thinner. Thinner wires cannot carry as much current (electricity) safely as a thicker wire.

Electric wires carry electricity much like pipes carry water. You can only force so much water through a certain sized pipe. The same is true with electricity. Wires are rated as to the amount of electricity they can safely carry or transmit. The rating is a measurement of the electrical current or amperes (amps).

It just so happens that circuit breakers are rated the same way! That is so you can match the wire size in a particular circuit to the proper sized circuit breaker.

What's a watt?

Homeowners usually are familiar with two measurements of electricity: volts and watts. For example, virtually everyone knows that the voltage of the electricity in their house is 120 and 240 volts.

People also deal in watts on a daily basis. That's how you buy light bulbs. 75, 100, 150 watt bulbs are very common. Electrical appliances are often sold based on their wattage. Electric hairdryers are often 1,200 watts.

Conversion

Very few homeowners I have dealt with, however, know how to relate all of these numbers. It is extremely easy. It is also very helpful, as you quickly begin to understand why a circuit breaker pops or a fuse blows.

The conversion formula is simply this: Watts = Amps x Volts. So, in numeric form, 1,800 watts = 15 amps x 120 volts. Is it beginning to get less fuzzy?

Your bathroom breaker pops if you try to operate your hairdryer, mirror lights, and curling iron all at the same time. Too many watts at one time are trying to get past the breaker! Watch those watts!

Column B48

Residential Electricity and Circuit Breakers Books

The following books and publications all deal with residential electricity, wiring techniques, tools, methods, materials, etc. in some fashion or another. Some are basic, while others are more advanced. Some have excellent photographs, while others are not so good. Your best bet is to take your time at your local bookstore and look through as many as possible.

See if the book or publication covers in clear, understandable English just what you are trying to figure out. If not, keep looking! In any event, my guess is that you quite possibly will need several books to fully understand the subject. Remember, residential electricity can be both dangerous and deadly. DO NOT underestimate its ability to hurt you or your family members. If you are the slightest bit unsure as to working with electricity, hire a professional! Good luck and work safely!

• Wiring Simplified: Based on the 2008 National Electrical Code (42nd Edition)
  Creighton Schwan & Herbert P. Richter
  Park Publishing, 2008
• House Wiring Simplified
  Floyd M. Mix
  Goodheart - Willcox., Inc., 2005
• The Complete Guide to Home Wiring: A Comprehensive Manual, from Basic Repairs to Advanced Projects
  Black & Decker Home Improvement Library, 2001
• Advanced Home Wiring
  Black & Decker Home Improvement Library, 1992
• Quick Guide Wiring
  Creative Homeowner Press, 1996

Fine Homebuilding magazine has had several articles in past issues which also deal with electricity and residential wiring. Fine Homebuilding is, in my opinion, one of the finest magazines that deals with the professional installation of building and remodeling products. The workmanship of talented craftspeople is featured in each issue. The articles which appear are well written, edited and have excellent illustrations and photographs.

Fine Homebuilding is published by The Taunton Press. They also publish other books which are compendiums of several related articles. Click on their web site and check out their publications.

Column B48