Cold Weather Extension Cord

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Just looking for peoples experience with cold weather cords. I just bought this, Cord and I have to say it is very flexible which I wanted. I put it in the deep freeze along with 4 other cords i have laying around and true to its claim it is very flexible. Overall i am very happy with it by the prongs a the end are medium duty. I have felt much heavier duty ones. I just bought this this to try it as well. I have also been reading about the Yellow Jacket cords , yellow jacket , and although not a cold weather cord, many tout its quality and flexibility even at cold temps. Im interested in your experiences.
 
12 AWG can get pretty dern stiffy. I have a purple striped cord that is nearing 20 years old and seems to be pretty flexible. But I have a couple neon orange 12's that stiffen right up. No idea as to brand anymore. I'd like to buy a new 50 foot 12 AWG, so let us know on the 12 AWG's.

14 and 16 AWG seems to not have much issue regardless of temp.
 
I received my Woods brand SJTW Cold Whether blue cords. I am not impressed at all. Im not saying they are bad cords as a general cord but they are not cold whether cords. Even at about 60F they are slightly stiff. The prongs dont fit in the end tightly so water could definitely seep in if it was left in the water. I will be returning these cords.
 
Originally Posted By: jstutz
Both 16 AWG


Boggles the mind that any 16G cord would have an issue. One rated for low temp has some level of stiffness - what temps are you guys having? Not below freezing?
 
No where near freezing. Im not really saying it has an issue. Im just saying it is no where near the flexibility of my SJOEW cord and on par with my regular cords. Nothing special is all im saying. It does feel stiffer than my other regular cords even at room temp but maybe after it gets broken in it will loosen up a bit. The SJOEW cord i bought feels like a regular cord on a hot day even when it comes straight out of the deep freeze. If you want to burn 21 dollars, go to amazon and get the 25 ft version of what i posted above (the first link). I would bet it becomes your favorite cord.
 
Yellow jacket cords are junk in the cold. The insulation cracks and breaks at -20 max. I build houses and cords are my livelihood. I buy black soft rubber insulated cords. They don't crack or break.
 
Clevy, thanks for the feedback. It makes sense that they would be stiff in the cold as they are rated SJTW. I dont understand why so many people tout its flexibility. Would you mind commenting on some of the cords you used? i seen some Snap on ones and some Coleman Cable ones that are rated good also but there all SJTW cords so i imagine they would stiffen up in the cold. Where do you buy the cords you mentioned above? The only thing i found local to me that is close to what you mentioned is a farm cord that is oil resistant rubber at lowes and i believe it fairly expensive. About 55 dollars for a 40 ft 12/3 cord.
 
You need to find or build a cord with SEOOW or SJEOOW, they're rated to -71F. SJTW is rated to -24*F.
It'll cost you about $1/ft and good cord ends will cost around $10 each. Try you're local electrical distributor instead of the hardware or farm store.
 
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