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How To Coil An Extension Cord

How to coil an extension cord

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When Done Right It Can Save You A Lot Of Time

This video shows you a couple of ways of doing it.

The gaffers method is great for heavier cords 10 gauge or heavier. This method also work for compressor hoses.

 

My favorite method that I was taught and have been using for years is to make loops of cord in my left hand with my right hand.

How to coil an extension cord

 

Head on over to Pg. 2 and I'll tell you how I do it.

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31 Comments

  1. Clark Winter said:

    I use the macramê half hitch method (consecutive loops). All you have to do is pull it to make it longer and only need to pull as much as you need for the job.

  2. Pete Cino said:

    I like the figure 8. Resisted for years but it ALWAYS spools right out. I don’t like the bucket trick. I’ve seen one melt in the bucket when only a little was pulled out.

  3. Michael Tarasiewicz said:

    I do the same thing, but don’t do the over under. Just add a second twist of the wire. learned this from my life guard class coiling a life line, never can be tangled, since it needs to be thrown to a victim. Have been doing the bucket thing for 20 years with a hundred foot ten gage cord, works great.

  4. Doug Griffith said:

    It he best is when someone “helps” you by stretching it around their hand to elbow and twisting the wire inside the casing. What did your dad teach you that? Numbnuts

  5. Darren Miller said:

    Just a heads up if you have a heavy load on that spool pull the full length of cord out bc the wraps inside can get very hot melting the insulation and costing you your home or shop. As a fire fighter I have seen many of these with a heater plugged in to them burn houses.

  6. Kris Poole said:

    Better way is to take both ends and loop until you get to the middle then wrap around and through. Half the time to roll and you make a handle to carry it.

  7. Troy Nary said:

    I have been using the Over-Under method for 20+ years. Learned it doing professional stage work. Every stage hand I have worked with coiled them this way. Since it is larger loops, the wires will last longer. One thing they didn’t point out is that if you hold the end you started the loops with, and then throw the coil, it will uncoil with no knots. (If you grab the wrong end, it is a pain.) This will work with all kinds and sizes of cables. (Though for larger cables, I coil on the ground.)

    This method is based on the coiling of ropes on a ship (as I think someone already pointed out). Since the original stage riggers were all sailors, a lot of shipboard methods/traditions are found in theater.

  8. Paul Peck said:

    The over under method is correct to prevent unwinding like a phone cord. I use 6 ft loops to avoid memory in the line and one of those balls on a bungee cord to wrap around each individual extension cord so I can hang them all together without mixing them up . The over under method is very handy when rolling up airless hose . Nothing pisses a painter off more than kinks in a hose. Love the videos very insightful .

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