Stuff We Use: Retractable Extension Cords

On our never-ending quest to improve this place by listening to feedback from the B&B, we are taking a new tack with these product posts, choosing instead to focus on items we have actually used or purchased with our own meagre income. After all, if we’re giving you the truth about cars, we ought to give you the truth about car accessories.

Following a wrenching session with a new-to-us Hyundai Elantra for a budding driver in the household (yes, running and driving $800 cars still exist in this era), we decided to briefly revisit the concept of retractable extension cords for one’s workspace. You know we’re evangelists for a particular vehicle accessory when we expound on its virtues twice in a calendar year.

One of the most useful items in the garage, save for the beer fridge, is a retractable extension cord gifted to me by my father well over a decade ago. Anyone who has the space to work on their own rig knows that, at some point or another in the maintenance of a car, electricity will be required for something – it could be to illuminate a corded worklight, a power tool which doesn’t have a battery, or even just for a ShopVac.

The retractable cord in our possession has lived on the ceiling of multiple garages, powered countless tools, and provided electricity to corners of my property where a tangled mess of cords would have otherwise been required. Numerous styles are available, though I do like the way this particular one is constructed. A simple mounting bracket is atop the unit, held in place with a stout metal retainer and cotter pin. Two hardy bolts are used to secure the thing into the ceiling; make absolutely sure you’re punching them into a rafter (or, if you’re installing this on a wall, into a stud) because the last thing anyone needs is a metal case falling from the sky and likely damaging their car.

There are a few things to consider when selecting a retractable extension cord. Look at the reel length, for starters. A total of 30 feet is common, and is what’s contained in my reel, though I do occasionally pine for a 50-footer. Whilst my workspace measures the typical dimensions of a suburban residential attached two-car garage, the grand sum of 30 feet doesn’t take long to consume if one is snaking the cord around a project car and over a gas-powered pressure washer. Spend the extra up front – you’ll be glad you did. 

Also, it is worth choosing a unit with multiple outlets; three seems to be the norm though some do exist with a single lonely outlet on the end of its reel. This is either the fault of poor product planning, a bedwetting lawyer, or probably both. Just don’t overload the reel by plugging too many appliances or tools into the thing at once. In the same vein, know the wire gauge used in the reel you’re buying and remember a lower number means a thicker extension cord. A 14-gauge is likely sufficient but you won’t regret spending extra on a 12-gauge option. This will likely be denoted by an ‘AWG’ acronym somewhere on the package. Our knowledgeable readers made this point last time around, and they are correct.

Be sure to give the extension cord a once over each time it is unreeled from its home, lest it have gotten damaged somehow in the tough environment that is a repair area. Any fraying or exposed wires should be dealt with immediately – preferably by outright replacement. And it goes without saying that these things shouldn’t be used near liquids or extreme sources of heat. Thanks, lawyers, for telling us to include those missives.

As planned, this series of posts will continue to focus on items we’ve actually used and bought with our own money. We hope you found this one helpful.

[Images: author, seller]

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