What is a good temporary coating for extension cord joints

[Smart Gal]

I have been doing that for years. Cheap and affective.

[micky]

I don't have anything plugged into it in the winter, unless I'm out there doing something, but I've been letting my extension cord lie on the ground in the grass when I'm not using it for the last 15 years or so. It's on a GFI breaker (the outdoor outlet, along with the outlets near the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and I suppose the laundry sink.)

And in all these years it's only tripped 2 or 3 times and I can't even be positive that the extension cord is what made it trip.

It's out there in the rain, the snow, the dew. I'm careful not to pick up the cord closer than 2 feet from the end, and I usually have no reason to pick it up when it's wet out anyhow. I have walked by it when it's in the wet yard, with shoes on, but I never got a tingle either.

Given my experience, I can't help but think wrapping it in saran wrap would be good enough. YMMV. Or the one that stretches might work better. I think it's Glad Wrap that is a different material and it stretches rather than clings.

There was, maybe still is, Handi-wrap, and that was different too somehow.

[angelica...]

We have a heated birdbath. Electrical tape on the connection between the birdbath and the extension cord. It seems pretty effective for the 5 months that we need it.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

If you keep the connection up off the ground you really don't need to do anything. A bag or tape around it might actually collect water and short it out.

[Ralph Mowery]

I put up Christmas tree lights every year and keep the connections off the ground and have not had any problems. I am not sure if the outside socket in the house I have live in for the last 10 years have a ground fault on the outside or not as I have never tripped the fault breaker in the breaker box so far.

I should probably test it some time, but just not that interisted.

[micky]

I know for sure mine is on the GFI because it kept tripping when I moved in, and the bathroom outlets also stopped at the same time. I replaced the breaker and every thing worked again

[vjp2.at]

I repaired some wires and sealed them with hot glue. Silicone caulks would also work. I've done this with audio connectors but also electrical ones. The outer shell of my shaver's wire into the unit crackes, so I put each connector into each pin. I had it with tape, but then I decided to use hot glue.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have known people who put plastic bags around the connections, a bad idea if you don't make sure the opening is down.

[Clare Snyder]

Roll the damned thing up and store it ina bucket - and disconnect it. Leaving it inr grass is just plain STUPID on so many counts.

[rbowman]

Stop the presses, I agree with Clare.

[gfretwell]

If you have enough receptacles you don't need extension cords running everywhere.

[angelica...]

Except to the bird bath in the middle of the yard.

We pick up the bath and the cord after the last freeze and before the first mow. Which in our area might be the same day.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

Sometime between the last time I rolled that cord up and the next time I needed it, I would dig in some RNC and have a receptacle out there.

[angelica...]

I suppose. 6 inches down in our hard clay seems like an awful lot of work. We might want it a little deeper to ensure the frost doesn't pop it out of the ground.

I presume the receptacle would have to be above grade, giving me another damned thing to mow around.

Nah. Extension cord works fine. Roll it out in the fall and back in the spring.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

I understand clay. The code is 12" (residential, 15&20a, GFCI) Whatever works for you I guess. Tywrap the cord to the birdbath post so it is up off the ground and you will be OK.

[Marilyn Manson]

What are you using the cord for?

We use these for movement, haven't considered heat.

[angelica...]

Heated birdbath. Our yard is a popular destination when all the open water is frozen.

And, yes, the connection is off the ground. Something like this, with a stake pounded into the ground to hold up the connector.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

One way to do yard outlets and not create a mowing problem is to get a

12" (maybe 16") round block set at grade around your post and fill it with concrete. Then you can mow right over it and have several inches that nothing will grow. You could put green dye in the concrete and make it almost disappear. I did that with my post lights in the yard. I don't get off my rider and I don't like to "weed eat".