Best Way to Store an Extension Cord

Hey Dirt Farmer today here from Dirt Farmer jet comm if you're like many people dealing with these guys extension cords going to be a real problem common way that people are winding these up is to take one of the ends grab on to it and then start to coil it around their arm like this catching it the cradle of the thumb and the forefinger around the elbow and why neither around like this now there's a couple problems with this approach number one every time you wind it you're introducing twists in the line because you have to roll it around to get it back to itself some of the loops are thicker some are smaller you plug this thing together and you go hey good it's stored I need to get a loop on it somehow but you can see look at the irregularity of this thing that's all kind of twisted some of the loops are larger some are smaller and worse yet the most problematic thing here is you go to use the cord and you toss it out like this and that's what happens but I'll tell you what there's a better way all right if your cord looks like this and you've got a mess like this here's the way to solve that and to make it so every time you've got in your tool box your truck box stowed in the box or stowed away in the drawer whatever you can pull it out and it'll always come uncoiled without snags without a lot of twists in it the first thing you've got to do is work through the cord just start at the beginning and get it all the curls out of it see there see I'm going to twist her in this and look it I didn't think that out that's just the normal way as soon as you roll something around a fixed object you're gonna get twist in it we've got all the twists out of the line at this point all we're gonna do now is go back find the male end find the female end plug them in so there's your starting you're gonna grab both of these here and work through just like this just work right through to you have the halfway point now here's the cool thing about this method of winding course first of all right off this is a 50 foot length that I played this is a 25 footer right away also I've done just by this one step I've cut down one half of the length of this to 12 and a half foot when I get to this stage that's the halfway point of the cord right there watch this next maneuver alls I'm gonna do is switch this hand over and I'm gonna go just like that you see the other cords right in there I'm gonna reach through and grab that so this is what I get see how it's corded around there there's that loop in here now I'm gonna grab that handle on the top right here down below and I'm going to push one through switch grip grab the top you see my team starting to form that's gonna be the magical part of the stowage method here's my handle again I reach down below grab more push it up to my waiting hand lift again I'm gonna speed it up here we go all right there we go you see the little chain right here now I've taken a cord that was 25 foot long I've put it in this length here's the great thing about it it doesn't matter if I throw it on the floor to twist it up it's always gonna come back to this form I can want it up cram it into a shelf throw it on the floor I don't care I can always pick it up and it's going to be that basic shape again you always start with plugging this together then working down to the halfway point starting your chain from that end and then leaving this end sticking out what's the reason for them that's because this end can be undone partially and you can use just as much of the extension cords you need for instance let's suppose you've got 25 foot of cord here but to only have a reach of 11 foot we don't have to unwind the whole thing and then spread it all out tuck away some of it you can just use part of it and then what you do that is just to back off the front the top loop you see that loop right there with that final end sticking through you just undo the first chain and looking it starts to unwind as much as you need so let's suppose that's your need right there then you're gonna throw it on the floor one half goes off to your power supply one half goes off over to your power need and you're ready when you're done you simply plug it back together pick up your loop again and rebuild the loop just like that now another really cool thing about this I want you to watch this when you take out a whole cord like this and I've taken it out of my toolbox and I've done this look at this you see how beautifully it lays its flat hard leaning twisted at all just a couple twists and the cord is ready to use next time you're thinking about stowing a cord it's easier on the cord it's easy on you remember this is the superior way to use a cord until the next time on dirt farmer J from Dirt Farmer Jane comm if this is helpful helpful to you like it pass it on to somebody else to make use of it and if you have a comma or a tent this has been a quick tip this has been a quick tip from Jake up for crying out loud this has been a quick tip from Dirt Farmer J at Dirt Farmer J comm if this was helpful to you pass it on to someone else that can make use of it or comment on our site better yet like the video and subscribe until the next time this is Dirt Farmer J

Channel: DirtFarmerJay

Views: 4,908,616

Rating: 4.8032169 out of 5

Keywords: winding, an, extension, cord, untangling, how, to, store, fool-proof, method, easily, sto

Id: eTpbh2zJGhA

Length: 6min 13sec (373 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 20 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/MostlyBullshitStory]

Hell no! Never, ever do this to any of your cords. Not only is it a time waster, it will also slowly destroy said cords.

This is the correct way to coil a cable, any cable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yPcJD7RVuY

Note that the over and under method for thicker cable becomes over kill, but the coiling part still applies.

The goal here is to keep the uncoiled cord as straight as possible and without tangles.

Source: Have coiled 100's of cables on concerts and events over a 20 year period..

[u/Pjones2127]

My sons scoutmaster taught his troop this method and I curse his name every time I try to use my now kinky 100' extension cord.

[u/Catrocantor]

Yeah, no way would I ever use that method.

[u/mikerftp]

Guy that enjoys making loops with his extension cord tries to pretend it's useful.

[u/mekdot83]

My BIL did this to my 50' cord. Now it's a spring that recoils to about 30'. Don't do this. Never do this. Ropes maybe, but not extension cords.

[u/NearHi]

No! Entertainment tech/stagehand here. Don't do this. Look up the "over-under" method of coiling cable. It's fast, it's clean, and it saves the life of your cables. As a bonus, when you want to uncoil, you grab one and and throw the coil and as long as you haven't pulled that end through the middle, it will fly out, no knots, no twists, perfect. It's literally what all professionals do.

[u/klousGT]

I'm going to disagree.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7J2MBX/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[u/blenz15]

It’s called a daisy chain. Great with rope. Awful with an extension cord.

[u/Mr_Pervert]

Interesting. Seems nice if you're just tossing a cable into storage or into a truck.

I tend to use this. It looks a little quicker and works with air/garden hoses too.