It's been decades since I did this, but I cut my hedge trimmer cord in two.
I've repaired them in the past, usually for a neighbor, in-law, etc. But usually the cut is near the female end of the wire. Throw away two feet, put a new plug on. I've never spliced one.
This time it's closer to the middle, and it was a new 14 gauge cord. I hate to throw away many feet. I could put connectors on each end and plug them into each other, I guess. Or is there an actual way to splice a cord?
I've done it, with no problem. Twice. Once my neighbor mowed my lawn once and he must not have noticed the cord in the grasss.
Usuaally I would solder the wires but once I may have just wrapped them. After I connected one of the wires, I wrapped it very tightly in silicon(e) tape, the kind that stretches 2 or 3 times its length if you pull hard enough, and then grabs onto itself and later turns into one blob. After splicing the second wire, I wrapped the first and second wires. And after the ground, I wrapped them all togeher. Once I included a 3 or 4" stick so it wouldn't have to bend at that point, but the next time since one wire was missing part, I folded back the other two and I didnt' use a stick.
It started out leaving the cord in the grass overnight one night, but since then I leave my 100' outdoor extension cord lying in the grass all the time, even when it rains, even all winter under the snow. In 20 years that I've done this, I've tripped the GFI 3 times but I don't know for sure the cord is the reason. (The same GFI powers the outlets in the kitchen and the bathrooms) To be cautious, when it's damp I pick it up a couple feet from the end, but I've never felt even a tingle.
remove outer insulation, remove inner insulation on both ends to be spliced. slide heat-shrink tubing of the appropriate size over one end, clear of the area to be stripped. Strip all six conductors and use standard 14awg crimp butt connectors to join the conductors. Crimp using approved tool. Slide heat shrink tubing to fully cover the splice, heat. Offset the butt connectors to keep overall diameter of splice down.
7 minute youtube video :
John T.
You've got a GFCI-protected circuit that powers the kitchen, the bathroom, and an outdoor receptacle? Seems like that should be three separate circuits.
Does sound a bit unusual. That one is used for all suggests it was probably wired with that in mind, using one GFCI for all being the reason to put them all together, which means it would be 1980s era. I would have thought code probably required separate circuit for the kitchen receptacles even back then, so IDK. Around that time they were wiring bathrooms and outdoor on one GFCI though, so I guess that was code.
My house was built in the mid 1980's. It has one GFCI for all the bathrooms and outside receptacles. There is none for the kitchen.
Nor sure what the code is now, but in the kitchen and sometimes the basement where refrigerators and freezers are they do not have GFCIs.
There is some heat srink that has something like glue inside of it that would be beter than plain heat shrink. If no but splices, solder and heat shrink each conductor and then one over the whole connection.
If no heat shrink, the good old Scotch 33 tape works well.
My last house, built in 1978 had the kitchen alone but the deck off the kitchen was on the same GFCI as the downstairs bathroom. Probably saved $20 that way.
And slide the outer piece of shrink tubing on one of the pieces of cable prior to splicing the wires... Skipping that step has led to more than one 'duh' moment.
Refrigerators should not be on a GFCI. They can cause unwanted trips.
Good video. He says butt connectors are not good. I'm inclined to think they work well, I used them on some auto wiring with good success. But I didn't attempt to improvise with a wire stripper or needle nose for a crimper. I bought a decent set of crimpers, not one of the cheapies.
micky may have a GFI on more circuits. I think he might have a mobile home, or at least did at one time.
Refrigerators should also be on their own separately "fused" circuit.
No, it's a 3BR, 2.5Bath townhouse. I've never had a mobile home. I did spend 2 months in feb and march 2022 and 10 weeks in 2017, 2018 and
2019 sleeping in my rental car, so maybe that's what you're thinking of. Some of that time I had an apartment too, but I didnt' want to take an hour or two each way to drive back to it.
I was going to suggest a Chinese finger puller to help hold the opposing sides of the splice together. The underground heat shrink Ralph mentioned would be better.
For the kitchen, only the one or two outlets that are next to the sink are on the GFCI. I'm 99% sure the others aren't.
My house was built in 1979, but matching houses up the hill were built in '78. The electrician who wired them used to live here. Maybe he got paid with a house? You could tell his house because he had real sidewalk lights and a vent above the kitchen sliding glass door that connected to the range hood. My range hood goes nowhere. He probably had other improvmeents inside also.
If you have a heat gun you can streamline the process:
My current house was built in 2019 and every breaker in the panel is GFCI. There are no exceptions.
The refrigerator is on a GFCI circuit by itself, and yes, it used to trip on a semi-frequent basis, (as did several others), but that was due to loose electrical connections at the receptacle, not because of a problem with the GFCI breaker itself. The breaker was replaced under warranty, but the issue persisted until the loose connections were discovered and corrected.
More like if the GFCI trips all the food spoils.
Leading to unwanted and expensive trips to the grocery store...
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