My dad told me to always buy the cheap extension cords and I finally learned why that's bad

Last weekend I plugged a shop vac into a $5 cord from the dollar store and it melted halfway through a job in Columbus. The plastic got soft and the wires started showing. I nearly tripped a breaker and could've started a fire in my own garage. My dad swore by those cheap things for 20 years but I think he just got lucky. Has anyone else had a cord fail on them like that or am I the only one who trusted bad advice?

3 comments

3 Comments

janah8316d ago

Yeah, I learned that lesson the hard way too (melted a surge protector once).

ruby_jones14d ago

Learned that lesson myself when I tried to be smart and plug my whole PC setup into one of those cheap power strips from the grocery store. Smelled something funny after about twenty minutes and looked down to find the plastic around the switch had literally started bubbling like a cheese pizza in the oven. That was the moment I realized spending five bucks on something that handles thousands of watts is just ASKING for trouble. Now I treat any electrical stuff like I treat my gut feelings - if it seems too cheap or too easy, it's probably gonna melt in my face. At least you didn't catch your house on fire, so I guess we both got off easy.

kim.jake15d ago

People don't talk enough about how old wiring in a house changes the whole equation... I've seen it so many times where someone plugs a new high-end surge protector into a 1950s outlet and wonders why nothing works right. The protector itself can be fine but if the ground wire is loose or the circuit is already overloaded, that melted plastic is just a symptom. Had a buddy who spent two hundred bucks on a whole home protector and it still failed because his panel was corroded inside. Check the actual electrical system before you blame the gear, that's the real weak link most folks skip.