How low will you go?

When you have a domain like buyextensioncord.com and it includes a toll free telephone number, you get a lot of questions. Taking the time to research customer queries has been a great way to grow our business.

Today, we got a call from someone who needed extension cords to use in large walk-in freezers. The cables he was using were freezing and could no longer be coiled. It was easy to understand his problem, but not quite so easy to find the solution.

If you have ever taken the time to look closely at an extension cord, you’ll see that there is a lot of difficult-to-decipher information printed on or embossed into the cable. This information tells you what environments the cable is designed to be used in and the amount of current that it is safely rated to carry.

Putting this info directly on the cable is required if Underwriters Laboratory is going to give the item its blessing as something safe for consumers to use. Here’s a useful link to safety info from UL about extension cords and how they are rated.

In doing a little research for this customer I came across a very nice diagram of how extension cords are made and the characteristics that give each type of cable its unique rating. Here’s a link.

It turns out that the info our customer needed is included in a 3-5 digit code found on all extension cords. The code is assigned by the National Electrical Code and the data in question usually starts with the letter “S”.

If you want to know a little more, click here.

Anyway, it turns out our customer is going to need a cable with a jacket specification of SJEOW. The “O” in this code means that the cable has a thermoplastic jacket (flexible at low temperatures) and the “W” means that it is rated for outdoor use. Extension cords with this rating will remain flexible down to -45 degrees F.

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