I'm looking to power a 115 volt, 5,000 BTU AC window unit. Would this extension cord, 12 gauge, 15 Amp, 125V, 1875 Watts be sufficient? With a proper cable is there still danger in using an extension cord for a window AC unit?

Thanks,

How many amps does the unit draw? Also, do you need 50 feet of cord?

I could make do with a 30ft cord, but wasn't sure it mattered. I'm not sure as to ampage - I was looking at this unit, and all I can find is that it's 115 volt, Cooling EER (BTUH / Watt) 12.20.

I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff, I only discovered today that you shouldn't use a normal extension cord, but this seemed to be in the specs for what was acceptable.

the user manual for that unit you linked says specifically not to use with an extension cord.

just pointing that out.

the only way to be sure is to figure out exactly the power requirements for the unit and get a cord that is rated for that. you may need to go put eyes on it in the store and see if you can see it on the box or on the unit itself somewhere.

The specs tab on the link given says that the unit has a 5-15P plug (rated for 15 amps). You'll be fine with the 12 gauge extension cord in question. If the unit needed a 20 amp outlet, it would have a different power plug where one blade was turned horizontal, and the extension cord mechanically wouldn't mate up. I wouldn't consider it a permanent installation, but nothing is going to burst into flames. The standard disclaimer about no extension cords is to prevent mouth breathers from using a lamp extension cord.

Thanks - does cord length make a big impact? I assume it's something similar to latency on a longer than necessary network cable?

Length matters, Resistance not latency. But at 50' and 12ga (even they way questionable vendors like harbor freight measure) will be fine for 15Amps. So 12ga at 70degrees is ~1.7ohms per 1000 ft. So about 0.17ohm (hot & return) or 2.5V loss ignoring power factor and other issues.

Thank you - Would switching to a 10 gauge offer even more safety/reassurance?

A Window AC unit with a cheap extension cord?

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A Window AC unit with any cheap extension cord?

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Probably FIFYd.

bcasey03 said:

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For what it's worth, I went to a house fire last week that started like this.

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I've seen a few of these happen. But I think the root cause was from too much amp draw through to small of cord.

A 5000 btu window unit will generally draw 5-7 amps.
I sometimes run one on 50 ft 12 gauge cord at jobsites for temporary cooling and have never had any issues but never let it run longer than 10-12 hours a day and I always plug it into a gfci outlet if using the extension cord.

I've got an electrician coming out on Friday to give me a quote on adding an electrical outlet to the shed. I'm looking for a more long-term solution, and I would like to not burn down my shed/house. Thanks for everyone's input.

Wait? So this is going in a detached shed? In that case, adding power will require wires be run from the house to the shed in conduit buried 18 inches below grade.

Do it yourself. No time like the present to learn a new skill.

yeah, I don't know really anything about electrical work, and the more i googled and heard from this board, the more i realized that my idea was pretty stupid.

i'll look into doing it myself, but i also like the idea of not burning my house and shed down. we'll see what the quotes are, I'm hoping for under 1K. No idea if that's realistic. The shed is about 15 feet from the house, but about 30 ft from the nearest outdoor electrical outlet.

How far is the shed from your panel and what is your soil like?

Post some pics and we can walk you through. I just added new underground to three buildings and out to the road. Over 1,000 feet for less than $500.

I'll try to get pics this weekend, but here's a google maps screenshot.



As I said, I don't know much about electrical work, but for cost savings, I'm hoping that the closest external outlet can be re-purposed to be the line that runs to the shed. We'll see. After you dig through the first foot of grass/soil you hit about 25 feet of clay.

Just a tip, dig the trench yourself (by hand or rent a trencher). No need to pay your electrician to dig a hole. The rest of the supplied involved in a job like this will cost you less than $125.

Another idea, find the breaker for the outlet you are hoping to use, turn it off, and then see what else is on that circuit. I'd be curious to know what else is on that circuit. Assuming you have the capacity, you may be be able to tap of that outlet.

Simple...

Run 12/2 romex to any outside wall.

Drill through the wall to the outside.

Mount this box ( bell box )



Run 3/4" PVC out the bottom to a trench. Rent a small trencher or hand dig. I would rent.

You could run UF ( underground cable ) in the ditch or put romex in 3/4" PVC to the shed. Also 12/2

Come up into another box mounted on the wall of the shed.

From there go inside the building to a junction box to distribute as need for lights and receptacles.

Romex can be a biatch to pull through 3/4 conduit (and I believe it also might not be code?). I would use individual #12 wires.

bcasey03 said:

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For what it's worth, I went to a house fire last week that started like this.

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So did I. But she was using the light weight cord you'd use behind your bed for a lamp and your phone charger.

jay040 said:

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yeah, I don't know really anything about electrical work, and the more i googled and heard from this board, the more i realized that my idea was pretty stupid.

i'll look into doing it myself, but i also like the idea of not burning my house and shed down. we'll see what the quotes are, I'm hoping for under 1K. No idea if that's realistic. The shed is about 15 feet from the house, but about 30 ft from the nearest outdoor electrical outlet.

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If you'd like to still save some money, when the electrician comes out, get his planned route and dig the ditch yourself. They don't like digging and charge you... So you're paying skilled labor rates for running a shovel

hodgesco said:

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Romex can be a biatch to pull through 3/4 conduit (and I believe it also might not be code?). I would use individual #12 wires.

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Yes this is true. You could strip that wire first and just pull the individual conductors and ground.

Exactly what I did with my detached garage.

Direct bury romex is also an option

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Direct bury romex is also an option

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Direct bury UF cable

hodgesco said:

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Just a tip, dig the trench yourself (by hand or rent a trencher). No need to pay your electrician to dig a hole. The rest of the supplied involved in a job like this will cost you less than $125.

Another idea, find the breaker for the outlet you are hoping to use, turn it off, and then see what else is on that circuit. I'd be curious to know what else is on that circuit. Assuming you have the capacity, you may be be able to tap of that outlet.

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If there's nothing else on the circuit, should I be able to just disconnect the outlets, connect some UF wire to them, run that through a conduit into the beginning of the ditch, then direct bury, bring it back up into the shed via conduit (just to not have UF wire exposed), and then wire the outlet?

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First, Romex is a brand name for a cable designated NM for non-metallic. It is not designed or approved for direct burial. It has a very light outer jacket and it can easily be damaged by sharp backfill. I have used it for temporary situations where it was buried, and it fails pretty easily. The direct burial cable is called UF for underground feed. It has a much tougher jacket, it is more expensive than Romex, harder to skin, and much more durable. Personally, I put everything in PVC conduit. It adds little to the cost and prevents a lot of headaches. Good luck.

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Depending on your location, I highly recommend putting it in conduit in the ground to prevent critters like gophers from chewing the insulation. A friend just recently spent $500 to get one of his lines replaced due to gohper damage.

Also when burying the conduit, place red Danger tape several inches above the conduit so if/whenever you or someone else digs in the area they notice the danger tape before they get to the conduit if digging by shovel.

Oh, before you dig, be sure to call 811...

As Gary said, conduit is the way to go.

Assuming you have an outlet you can tap off of, you will still need to make the transition between the junction box behind the finished (brick or masonite?) wall.

From there, the 3/4" conduct goes down into the ground, makes a 90 degree to go horizontal across your ditch and then makes another 90degree to come up to the shed.

Edit: Check out this link. At the end of the day the steps involved are quite similar to what you're trying to do.

https://www.familyhandyman.com/electrical/outdoor-lighting/how-to-install-outdoor-lighting-and-outlet/view-all/

And while you're at it, include a pull string in the conduit along with the wiring so it's available in the future if you for whatever reason decide you need to add another circuit for something you didn't think you needed now!

Was doing a renovation on my garage on our old house we're in the process of fixing up to sell, and when my son removed the service panel cover, he noticed a string dangling in there and asked me what it was there for. Told him, just in case I need to add another circuit line...guess the new owner may thank me in the future!

OK, I had a contractor come out and provide a quote, and I've updated the map with my mad Paint skills.



The electrician did not think it was a good idea to come from the existing outlet in the backyard, but to come off of the panel on the side of our house. What i had previously marked as the panel was the sub-panel. It's about 70 feet, and he proposed running cable above ground in a conduit along the length of the house to avoid running into any wires/plumbing. At that end of the house, I would dig a trench and the wiring would run under ground up to the shed.

Their quote:

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"It may not seem like a lot of work but the source coming from the outdoor panel makes it a factor. I have a total of 773.58. Now that covers us to install pipe along the house. Change over from pipe to underground cable and provide power for 1- plug (a/c) 1- switch and install a keyless fixture."

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Based off other comments here, that seems a little steep? I'm getting a 2nd quote today, but I'm leaning more towards attempting it myself now.