Budget friendly extension cords

[Lonnie]

My other "problem" was (past tense) having the cord from a power tool, like a polisher/buffer, stay connected to the female end of the extension cord. Now I know they make special devices that "hold" the two together OR you can knot the cord around each other, but I hate kinking/twisting the cord wires. When I was at a friend of mine and detailing his vehicle in his garage, he noticed that I had a real problem with this, as the buffer cord would come unplugged from the extension cord. He took some of the 3M blue painter`s tape I use for taping off trim and seals during correcting and/or polishing and taped the two cord ends together. Problem solved! I guess it was a simple and common sense solution, and it works better than knotting the two cords together.

 

[Lonnie]

On the budget front, here`s another extension cord question -

What are folks using for repairing the plugs on the ends? I`ve got a few that were hand-me-downs where the actual cord is nice, but the male plug ends have gotten quite beat up. Be nice to save them if there`s a good option. Figured I`d ask as I`m sure there are plenty of cheap repair ends out there that aren`t worth the time of day.

Home depot sells some made by Leviton.
Granger Industrial Supply sells some made by Hubbell

If you live in a larger city, you may have a power tool repair shop that may repair electrical cords for you. Obviously, the new replacement cord end will be much larger than the original molded plastic end.

Still cannot justify spending money on replacement and saving that old extension cord? DON`T throw in the garbage! Recycle it. Most metal recyclers will take that cord and pay you a salvage allowance for the wire, depending on the wire gauge and length of the cord. You can use the payment toward a new extension cord. Just remember that you will need some form of ID to present to the recycler as proof of who you are (IRS and police department reasons!)

 

[Accumulator]

Still cannot justify spending money on replacement and saving that old extension cord? DON`T throw in the garbage! Recycle it. Most metal recyclers will take that cord and pay you a salvage allowance for the wire, depending on the wire gauge and length of the cord. You can use the payment toward a new extension cord. Just remember that you will need some form of ID to present to the recycler as proof of who you are (IRS and police department reasons!)

Do they actually give enough $ to be worth doing? I always *assumed* (uh-oh) that it was like with tin/aluminum cans, where you have to take in a big truckload to make it worthwhile...