Extension Cord use with tools and household items

Home & Living
21

Hi to all those who are contributing to this topic.

Does the discussion follow two different threads?

1/ Manufacturers and suppliers recommendations, user instructions. Ignore them at your own risk?

Whether we agree with them or would like to offer a different view, not following them leaves the user exposed to an unknown risk. Offering different advice may leave the best of intentions open to legal consequences. None of us, including the manufacturer/supplier have absolute control over how their product is used or ability to manage the environment the product is used in.

2/ Electrical Safety and Engineering. Best left to the experts and product design specialists?

Rather than consume time sharing our various levels of technical knowledge - there are two places to seek sound advice. One is the State Or Territory Health and Safety or Electrical Safety Office. The other is the Electrical Supply Authority. What would they advise formally, knowing what the userā€™s manual advises?

End Point
There is the option for a more involved discussion on I2R losses and voltage drop risks with electrical appliances/devices. Experience professionally suggests it is high risk to use generalisations to answer an enquiry specific to an individual electrical appliance/equipment. A general response may provide a solution that appears to be applicable and functions in most instances. Whether it is safe or sound in 100% of all circumstances is impossible to assure without further content. Best for a select discussion to avoid confusion for those seeking absolute advice.

Iā€™ll go so far as to suggest.
If selecting an extension lead for use with any higher powered device there are heavy duty leads available. It pays to check as these should come with heavier copper conductors (copper wire size) than standard graded 10Amp leads. Those sold for trade and outdoor use also have a higher standard of outer sheath and likely higher temperature rated insulation. But like many commonly imported products, one brands version of heavy duty is not necessarily the same as another. A product best purchased from a reliable branded trade store than the local supermarket or bargain store. Whether itā€™s safe to use an extension lead for a particular device, I canā€™t say.

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22

Apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I donā€™t think so.

Another issue with using an inadequate extension lead, or more than one lead at the same time, is that you might render an earthed appliance unprotected if it develops a fault. Should the appliance develop an electrical defect and the chassis becomes ā€œliveā€, rather than flowing through the user and delivering them an electric shock, the current in the chassis flows through the protective earth to the earth stake and safely dissipates.

To work effectively, the amount of electrical resistance in the entire protective earth must be very low. This wonā€™t be the case if one uses multiple extension leads in series.

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23

Except that fuses and circuit breakers are designed to prevent over-current situations outbound from the supply, which could damage lots of things including wiring. And that could be a short circuit, or just multiple devices in parallel on one circuit that exceed the current limit.

Not return on neutral or earth wires. That is where residual current devices come in, and that is quite possibly an issue with dodgy cords. I defer to experts on the operation of those things.

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What was I thinking ? Iā€™ve corrected my post. Thanks @Gregr

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