Fried my 100 foot cord - heat doesn’t like coils

[bluztoo]

At the ocean camped in friend’s driveway. Excessive heat here today and left half of my cord on the spool. Did manage to trip breakers in the house and in the motor home. No fires involved but this was stupid on my part. Kids, don’t do this at home.

[norty1]

Never use a cord longer than you need. That cord looks to be to small a gauge to run much, let alone a rv with the ac running.

I'm happy to hear that the breakers protected things.

[Murff]

Originally Posted by norty1

Never use a cord longer than you need. That cord looks to be to small a gauge to run much, let alone a rv with the ac running.

I'm happy to hear that the breakers protected things.

I agree with Norty. I'd never use an extension cord that wasn't the same guage as the trailer power cord.

Murff

[Route 66 Traveler]

Plus, using coiled up power cords can make funny things happen to the voltage and current, but mostly in heat dissipation….

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-r...d-is-dangerous

[EA37TS]

Coiled extension cords create heat.

[Quantum]

That's why if you have the older style cord that stores inside the RV behind the little flap door, you should always pull all the cord out.

[pconroy]

You've already heard it, but I'll chime in too:
- 100 feet is waaaaaaaaaaay to long. You should'a been running 10 gauge wire for 100 feet.
- uncoil it
- don't ever use cheap extension cords


I paid a chunk of change for a 12g 25 footer and a 10g 50 footer. And with those, never more that 15A thru them.

[Stavman]

I learned, from framers, and my GF, bigger is ALWAYS better

All my RV/camping cords are 10g....PERIOD

Carry two 50' in my RV, and one 100' is at my house for running the RV while packing

In AZ and never a heat issues

Yer lucky....this time

[bluztoo]

Happy to play the useful idiot here. I knew better. My 30 foot cord is thick. The 50 foot I buy this week will be heavier gauge big-time. I did get lucky.

[Camper_bob]

This also sold me on NOT using those cord reels. My last one broke years ago and I never "replaced" it. Kinda glad I didn't.

I "coil" all my cords by hand and use cord clamps or cable ties (the big foam-covered ones that are like super huge bread bag ties) to manage them. So when in use, they're loosely "coiled" on the ground, or hanging in open air.

But like pconroy, I've been replacing all my cords with thicker gauge, higher quality units, and 99.9% of the time, they're limited to no more than a 20A circuit; most of the time I use them on 15A circuits. The plugs in my garage are all 20A circuits, and my new cords are WELL more than capable enough for those circuits and what I use on them.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by bluztoo

Happy to play the useful idiot here. I knew better. My 30 foot cord is thick. The 50 foot I buy this week will be heavier gauge big-time. I did get lucky.

There was another thread here on a similar topic and it spurred me to sit down with my oldest son and talk about extension cords. As I mentioned, it used to be a hot-topic growing up. I recall a few PSA commercials on proper extension cord use, not overloading outlets.


My son and I chatted about if for 5 or 10 mins. So, I'm grateful we have these threads! ")