Extension Cords

Every cordless tool on a jobsite still ends up sharing a wall with a grinder, a work light or a battery charger, and the cord that feeds them is the part nobody thinks about until it fails. These are the extension cords Shelving Inc. stocks for crews working outdoors and in unheated buildings, all of them 12-gauge three-conductor, which is the size to reach for when the run is long or the load is a motor. Southwire's SJTW jacket handles ordinary outdoor use; the Polar Solar Supreme carries an SJEOW jacket that stays flexible well below freezing instead of going stiff and cracking in a January bucket. Lighted ends on the 100-foot cords tell an operator at a glance that the far end still has power, which saves a walk back to the panel. The inline GFCI belongs here too: a 15-amp shock-shield unit that drops between the outlet and the cord and protects the person holding the tool, not just the circuit. Lengths run 25 to 100 feet. If you need a gauge, length or reel we do not list, call us and we will quote it.

Gauge is the one specification worth being fussy about. A 16-gauge cord is fine for a work light at 25 feet and actively dangerous under a 15-amp saw at 100 feet, where the voltage drop will cook a motor slowly enough that nobody connects the two events. Twelve-gauge covers essentially everything a crew plugs in, which is why it is all we carry. For a temporary jobsite the rule to follow is OSHA's: cords used outdoors or in damp locations need GFCI protection at the source or inline, and a cord with a damaged jacket comes out of service rather than getting taped. Store cords coiled over the elbow rather than wound around it — a twisted cord is how conductors break inside an undamaged jacket.