Extension Cord - Retractable or Wind Up?

[heffneil]

I have seen some interesting contraptions for storing and using extension cords. The one I saw recently has a net at the bottom and you wind it up manually in to this net. The disadvantage of that one is that it only handles a 16 gauge cable which seems small especially if I want to use a starter box or battery charger with 150 feet of cable! Any suggestions for what you guys like and use?

Thanks in advance!

Neil

 

[nate379]

Nail in the wall.

 

[Ray-CA]

I use a "garden hose" hanger. Just coil the cord up and hang it up. I have three different cords there now.

Ray

 

[pacmktg]

The one you were looking at is called a Wonder Winder. I have had one in my garage for at least 5 years. I keep 150' of 16-3 in it and use for many things like my yard blower etc. This thing works great and the cord never gets tangeled. I have put a 75' 12-3 cord in it and it worked just fine. I do not think you could go much longer.

Bob

 

[Brad54]

I've got one long one, and I use one of those orange roll-up "wheels" for it. I'm VERY happy with that solution.
I have a nice PA system with good quality speakers that are on stands for my swap meet, and have a pair of 100' of speaker cables--it's THICK cable. I wind those up on those reals too. It's fast, it's neat, and it's cheap.

-Brad

 

[e-tek]

I use em all: I have a 100' on a Manual Roller, have a couple 25 footers on reels and have many on nails and hooks. Other than the 100-footer for the leaf blower, I find the 10 foot cords most useful in the shop - for grinders, shop vac, drill, etc. I have one at each outlet now.

 

[nadogail]

The person who invented the "Cord Wheel" deserves to be rich. I own three of them.

 

[rsanter]

one of the most used items in the garage is the retractable extension cord I have hanging from the ceiling.
in fact my garage is a single + double configuration and I have a retractable work light and retractable cord in each location as well as a air hose reel for each

makes life so much easier

bob

 

[usmc_noma]

the hose reel sounds like a good idea and so does the regular cheap cord real. i personally would like to have a retractable just for a ceiling mount extension. otherwise just have them loose on a nail or ladder hook.

 

[Brad54]

Slightly off topic: my most useful extension cord is a little orange 6 or 8 footer I picked up somewhere. It's perfect for running the dremel tool, soldiering iron, etc. There are a lot of times when you want a little extra cord, and don't need the whole 25-foot coil laying on the ground.

Back on topic: I've got several extension cords out in the shop, between 12 and 25 feet. I just figured out a good way to store them: I hand coil them into decent sized loops, maybe as big as the distance from my waste to my knee. I've got pegboard on my walls, and these coiled cords hang very nicely in the pegboard hooks that are a half-circle. (these are the good, quality, tight-fitting pegboard hooks, not the cheap metal crappy ones) I have three of those hooks on the wall, "stacked" one above the other with one peg hole empty between them. The three extension cords are overlapped on the wall, starting from the bottom up--all easy to grab, easy to grab the one I need (12-foot or 25-foot), easy to put away, and don't take up a ton of space.
-Brad

 

[Mattlt]

Store them in a plastic bucket. The size of the bucket depends on the lenght of the cord.

cut a small hole in the side near the bottom of the bucket. Feed the male end through a short distance, enough to set the bucket on the floor and still reach the outlet. Pull out as much of the female end as you need.

The cord _should_ never tangle. In theory.

Another option is to cut out a 12-18" long piece of plywood, about 3-4 inches wide. Simply wind the cord around the wood. See attached.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Retractable fan here

 

[nate379]

Never got into those fancy dancy things. My short cord is 250' and I just have a hanger on the wall for it. I usually don't take the whole thing off the wall.

 

[rickairmedic]

I have more cords than I care to count and all of them get the same treatment . I double them up then coil elbow to foot and wrap the end around the cord and feed it through and hang from that loop as long as they are done this way I have never had one tangle.

Rick

 

[M Fan]

I have a 30' 14-gauge retractable Craftsman hanging from my ceiling, a 100' 14-gauge on an orange plastic reel, and my most used is two 100' 12-gauge that I store in a 5 gallon bucket. I was suprised how easy and quickly I can coil up the cord with the bucket...it works good.

 

[E46M3]

A few retractables mounted throughout...

...and a closet full of "orange ones" of all lengths wrapped around my elbow like "rickair" and hung in the closet uncerimouniously... attachment:

Cheers,
E46M3

 

[HOTFR8]

I have something similar to what Mattit has shown except mine are made from plastic, these I use for my 20 and 15 metre leads.

For anything longer I use one of these hose reels.

 

[russlaferrera]

I utilize all the above systems to store extension cords. I use 3 cordomatic 16 foot . They cover 90% of my shop. Larger 50-100 ft are wrapped on orange reels or shoulder wrapped with bungee cords