Shoutout to the guy who posted about cheap dollar store extension cords

Saw a post last night about dollar store extension cords melting. Didn't think much of it. Plugged one into my space heater this morning in my garage near St. Louis. Smelled burning plastic after 10 minutes. Cord was hot to the touch. Checked the wire gauge - it was 18 AWG for a 1500 watt heater. That's a fire waiting to happen. Anyone else almost learn this the hard way?

1 comments

1 Comment

brooke53312d ago

Scared me just reading this! I had a similar close call last winter with a cheap extension cord from a discount store. Plugged in a space heater in my living room and within 15 minutes the cord was literally too hot to touch. Thank goodness I was home. That 18 gauge wire is basically a death trap for anything pulling that much power. Glad you caught it before anything caught fire. Seriously, nobody tells you how dangerous those thin cords are until you almost smoke out your garage.