I always check stuff like this with new appliances, but I guess there’s some people who don’t…
There’s a reason why kitchen appliances in general have such short 3ft cables. There also a reason why modern kitchens built to code have outlets every 3 ft. Too many people lburned the house down with extension cables strewn across the sink and electrocuted now we can’t have nice things.
Note for the non-americans who use significantly better measuring systems.
- Awg = american wire gauge, I.e wire diameter.
- 18awg = 1mm diameter
- 16 = 1.3mm
- 14 = 1.6mm
- 12 = 2.1mm
- Yes smaller numbers are thicker wires.
Besides the electrocution hazard, another problem (in the US) is that someone allowed non fused 16 and 18 gauge extension cables on the market. We should only have 14 and 12 (or start putting fuses on the cords like some other countries)
14 should be for “light duty” like electronics or lamps. What you don’t tell people is that pretty much anything inside the house will run fine on 14awg wire.
12 for everything “heavy duty”.
The idea is people use the same wire that matches what their breakers are rated for. A 20amp breaker doesn’t know that the 100ft 18 gauge extension cord feeding 3 surge protectors with every kitchen device and the “diy powered garage” is going to melt long before 20amps.
Is it overkill? yes. If you draw too much current will the wire overheat and burn down your house? Not if the breaker trips first.
Your measuring systems never cease to amaze me. This one is even more confusing than measuring socket wrenches in fractal inches.
Wait until you learn how we measure thin steel thickness.
At this point I’m almost afraid to ask, but I guess I need to know. How do you measure thin steel thickness?
With the Sheet Metal Gauge!
It’s the same as wire gauge, but the scale is different per material!
For steel
- 16g = 1.5mm
- 22g = .75mm
- And so on
Pretty much anything larger than 1/8th of an inch (3.2mm), we just use the measurement (in inches).
Why? Because we don’t have a common measurement unit smaller than an inch. There probably is one, but no one commonly uses it. Coming up with a gauge scale is actually easier than say .0123 inch thick. Say “12 gauge wire” and everyone (who knows about it), knows exactly what you’re talking about.
Pretty much anything below 1/32 (0.8mm) of an inch, we’ll switch to decimals. 0.0001 inch is valid with no common way to make that neater. No such thing as 1 mili-inch.
Remind me, what is the cost of living in Europe?
Oh! I just remembered that the size of shotgun shell pellets are calculated that way. Take a fixed amount of lead and the gauge (we call it caliber) og the pellets is defined by how many of them you can make from that lump of lead.
Here in Norway it’s more expensive to live than ever. The interest is high and all other prices on have balooned this year, so the prices are too damn high. But I guess that is true for most countries.
Many people believe we are on the verge of a housing bubble bursting within a few years, so that might be a good time to relocate.
Pretty much anything below 1/32 (0.8mm) of an inch, we’ll switch to decimals. 0.0001 inch is valid with no common way to make that neater. No such thing as 1 mili-inch.
.001" is a thou or mil (1/1000 of an inch). That is commonly understood in any industry that requires that precision and also doesn’t already work in metric by default. 0.0001 would be 0.1 thou, but honestly any time I’ve ever seen anybody need more precision than a whole number thou, they worked in microns or nanometers.
That’s why if you absolutely need an extension cable, you should get one that’s just long enough and can handle the current. I have my toaster oven on a heavy duty, 2 foot extension cord because the nearest outlet is just barely too far away. If the cord came out the other end of the toaster oven, I wouldn’t need the extension.
–Check the bottom of my own toaster.
Thank you for improving my life a little, fellow dumbass.
Same
Disappointment.
Hahaha. Reminds me of one of my own similar fails.
I bought this mop… I’m tallish at 6’. For at least a year I used this mop, cursing it everytime for being short. “What is this? A mop for dwarves?!” literally gave myself a bad back using it.
Until one day, something clicked, and I noticed I could extend it. Fuck my life.
My friends have the same mop as me. My mind was blown when she unscrewed the cap at the end, pulled the mop head off, and threw it in the washer versus how I’d been painstakingly washing in the bathtub and feeling like an idiot because no matter how hard I wrung it out I couldn’t get it to dry
My world was changed that day as well
That’s amazing, thanks for sharing your fail as I feel slightly less dumb now.
One of the best I’ve seen… was working on a track with a one of my writing partners, he’s messaging his gf who’s asking where his washing machine powder is, he replies, but the response makes him sigh deeply. Asked him what’s wrong, he shows me the message, it’s from his gf and says “babe… Do you realise you’re washing your clothes with dishwasher tablets?” 😂
Dude just likes his clothes to sparkle, don’t shame him.
On the flip side, you just taught me that the extra length can be wound up underneath!
Check your kettle, air fryer and other kitchen appliances as well.
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