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Tripped over my own extension cord in the garage and the cheap plug pulled right out of the drill
Was drilling into a stud in my garage last Saturday and the cord yanked loose mid-hole, so I just stripped both ends, twisted the wires together, and wrapped it in electrical tape to finish the job before I bought a replacement plug.
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the_cole3mo ago
Extension cords aren't rated for that kind of abuse. The internal wire gauge is usually 16 or 18 AWG, and twisting two solid copper strands together under tape doesn't hold a proper connection under load. It'll run hot and arc out eventually. Spend the five bucks on a replacement cord end from the hardware store.
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murphy.barbara3mo ago
Oh man, that reminds me of the time my uncle tried to fix a lamp cord with duct tape and a paperclip. He almost set the garage on fire before my aunt yelled at him to just buy a new one. Five bucks is cheap insurance compared to replacing the whole house!
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hugo_bennett2mo ago
Yeah honestly I used to be that guy too. I figured tape and twisting wires together was good enough because it worked in a pinch and I didn't want to spend the money. But this thread really opened my eyes about how dumb that thinking actually was. Ngl after reading some of the stories here I'm never doing that again. It's just not worth risking the whole house for saving a few bucks on a proper fix. I'll be going to the hardware store from now on for sure.
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