Quoted from curban:I don’t understand the hate for extension cords. Supposedly a 12 gage 25’ cord is good for 16-20 amps. As long as I run it safely and no trip hazard and don’t insulate it…what else am I worrying about? Isn’t the 12 gage in the cord the same as the 12-gage in my walls?
My EE101 courses were a LONG time ago.
I have a fridge and two pins running off a 12 gauge extension cord for about two years now, it's been fine. I also have about 10 pins per 20A breaker and it has also been fine, but that's kind of meaningless as I haven't hosted a group of 10+ yet so it hasn't been under real stress. I do plug all my pins into these (https://www.tripplite.com/isobar-4-outlet-surge-protector-6-ft-cord-3300-joules-diagnostic-leds~ISOBAR4ULTRA) to protect from surges, spikes, and line noise. They're 12A themselves so if there's too much demand, only one bank of 4 pins will go down instead of all the pins on the circuit. My general rule of thumb for LED pins is 0.5A idle, up to 3A in use.
