Using an Extension Cord with Press?

Emibub

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Posts
9,246
Loc
Centennial, CO, USA
I plan on once again reworking my backroom this week and I am relocating my press in an attempt to have a dedicated spot for frame building.(Yay!)Lo and behold there is no outlet where I want to move it. I wonder if a big heavy duty extension cord will work? I have a 500TX press. I had to run a cord for my saw a few years ago and was told to get a big heavy duty one and that has worked fine. Does the same apply for the press? Please oh please say yes, I have people coming to help me rearrange on Thursday.......
 
Prior to our building this new studio, we had to use an extension cord for "Big Red" (220V). My husband used a very heavy duty, orange in color (if that means anything), three pronged and got our electrician's seal of approval. No problems. Having it okayed by an electrician is recommended.
 
It's only 1400 watts Jerry, does that make a difference? I don't want to spend any money on this place since I am bailing when my lease is up.......
 
Go for it. And while you're at it cut that pesky fat side of the plug off too! Take the guard off your chopper and throw away those silly safety goggles! Glass Smass you safety conscious people are such wimps!

Seriously though if you're gonna get an electrician to check out the cord, have him/her put in the outlet, probably costs the same as an hour of consult time.

Be safe, don't want to lose you to an electrical fire Kathy!
 
Try to find a cord that says 12AWG. You may or may not find one. If so thats the exact same conductor size and electrician would use. If not a 14AWG will work fine. If you want to sound like a real pro go to Home Depot and ask for "the shortest 12 or 14 guage, 3 conductor, extention cord they have". Lenght is the key. Keep it as short as you need. 14 guage is good for 15 amps. Your breaker is likely 20 amps. Its safe. Not perfect but fine. Don't let it get damaged and keep it out of the way. Its not perfect but it's not dangerious either.
 
If you compairing watts 14AWG is good for about 1900 watts. Amps is a better measure though.
 
120 volts, 11.7 amps Jay. Looks like the cord would have to be about 6 feet long.
 
Thats great. Just get the shortest one. This isn't critical you just don't want a 50' cord. Its fine.
 
Buying electrical supplies with watts is like buying framing using centimeters. You can get there its just a bad way to do it.
 
I think we should all get together one day and order our moulding in meters. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

"I need 5 meters of 480-958"
 
Well, I am going to consider it to be not perfect but safe to do! Thanks Jay!
 
Originally posted by Jay H:
I think we should all get together one day and order our moulding in meters. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

"I need 5 meters of 480-958"
We have no choice in this country and it is a pain in the proverbial Butt. I cannot relate to metres.

There have been 'metric martyrs' here - greengrocers, etc, that have been take to court for failing to convert. Soon we wil be driving on the right, who in their right minds does THAT!

But they haven't changed our roadsigns to kilometres though. Only done things that the man on the street has to sort out.

We'll be on metric TIME soon - 10 hours in a day, 10 days in a kiloweek, 100 kiloweeks in a year (a kilomonth) and saying words like a 'fortnight' will be illegal!

Pre 1970 our currency used to be pounds shillings and pence. 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound. You could get one third of a pound (Six shillings and eight pence) and children had to use their brains more.

You all stick to Imperial measurements and don't speak to French people!

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If you have any employees you are subject to OSHA's rules that state extension cords are not allowed under any circumstance. Regardless of whether they have been carefully analyzed by a licensed electrician to ensure they will safely carry the load or not.
 
I am not comfortable in the statement re 14 AWG cord on a 20 Amp fuse. If something goes wrong the cord will act like a fuesable link and possibly blow (fire potential). If it is a 20 Amp fuse I would only use a 12 Guage (AWG) cord or larger (smaller #AWG). In Canada the electrical code specifies 14AWG for 15 Amp fuse, 12AWG for 20 Amp fuse. You can use 12 AWG on a 14 amp fuse, but not the other way around.....
And Yes I agree, the shortest cord the better. Perhaps an electrician could custom wire something for you right out of the plug?

James
 
Hide it good. The fire inspector made me respect his authoritah once he saw it and made me eliminate ALL extension cords.
 
The only thing more dangerous about knowing nothing on the topic is knowing a little bit.

Kathy is not wiring a house. She wants to run an 11-amp load.

Perhaps the best thing for her to is to just read the rating on the cord. A 16 guage 50’ cord can hold 1600 watts and 13.5 amps. That is more than enough cord to run her 11-amp press. However to be safe I suggested a 12 guage but a 14 will still work flawlessly for many many years.

David is right about OSHA.

James is right (if you’re wiring a house).

I’m right about it being safe with the added note that it is not perfect.

Johnny is right about the fire marshall. I was inspected a few days ago. I have several cords and one cord run over a doorway and into a wall that powers my camera mounted on the celing below. You litlerally have to push it to the side to get through the door. He never said a word! I wouldn't have been surprised if he did, but he didn't.

I wonder if we can over analyze this 10000 times? I’m sure somebody has a story about a certain color that is needed.
 
Orange is okay but blue is probably better.

The main problem with orange is the fire inspector will see it from across the street.

(I just couldn't imagine how this got to 23 posts. Now I understand.)
 
My press wouldn't be worn out, if it hadn't been for those cords. Good, bad and better. The cord didn't wear out the press but without them I wouldn't have been able to use it for 30 years.
 
Okay, I am off to Home Depot tomorrow. Let's see, I want an orange 12-14 awg 10 feet long.....and I need to be able to hide it from the fire marshall.....

Thanks for all the input everybody. I'm just glad I can proceed because I have been planning this change since before the winter solstice rush. It should create a little more work area for me.
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:
Orange is okay but blue is probably better.

The main problem with orange is the fire inspector will see it from across the street.

(I just couldn't imagine how this got to 23 posts. Now I understand.)
I was wondering the same thing.

Sometimes I think we just like to <strike> argue </strike> <strike>debate </strike> discuss things <strike>to death </strike>thoroughly.
 
amps x volts = watts
ohms law


Actually, Ohms Law relates current, voltage, and resistance, not power. Additionally, for a sinusoidal source (like your wall plug), you need to consider the power factor (cosine of the angle between the current & voltage) to determine real power (measured in watts.) Simply multiplying the voltage by the current gets you a result, the apparent power, which is measured in VA (Volt-Amperes), which is actually the upper limit of real power (when the voltage and current phase relationship is 0 degrees).

As for the current topic (NPI), Kathy should be fine with a suitably beefy (at least 14 AWG) and short three pronged extension cord.
 
Or ya could just quit drymounting stuff until your lease is up and use the press for a paperweight. :cool:

Framerguy
 
Originally posted by Emibub:
Okay, I am off to Home Depot tomorrow. Let's see, I want an orange 12-14 awg 10 feet long.....and I need to be able to hide it from the fire marshall.....
Kathy,

Pick up that extension cord to get you through, and then pick up the phone and call your electrician. Have them drop in some conduit with an outlet where you need it. David N Waldmann is absolutely correct. When our city Fire Inspectors make their bi-annual check, extension cords are one of the key things they look for. They'll let us use power strips on a short term basis, but they really don't want to see extension cords anywhere!

Having this convenience outlet dropped into place for our digital camera (up in the ceiling) cost us about $200 - Well worth it.

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John
 
Glad I didn't go to Home Depot yet. I wonder on the appliance extension cords....I assumed they had to be hardwired? I was out looking on line this morning.

I don't know that this was disagreeing, just discussing. I appreciate the input.
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Thanks to all!
 
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