Is it safe to run all this through an extention cord? What kind?

[CZroe]

Whoever did the wiring in this rental apartment is a moron. All the sockets are brand-new but they came from China and nothing works without bending the prongs just right and moving it around a lot until your device "comes on." I unplugged a wireless bridge the other day and was burned by the hot prongs, so I guess it was arcing inside, even though the bridge was working fine.

OK, so first thing's first: REPLACE THE SOCKETS! Got it. But here's what I'd really like to do...

You see, there is ONE usable dual-socket outlet in the living room and it is overloaded. One of those two sockets is controlled by the light switch by the door, so I can't do anything useful with that. It's pretty much only useful for a lamp as anything else plugged in will get frequently turned off accidentally. It's controlled by one of those big easy-to-bump rocker switches that company will frequently try as there is no light switch for the living room (only floor lamps). I told you they were idiots. This means that I have a 65" LCD television, a Playstation 3 (original high-wattage 60GB model), cable box, HAVA MCE network tuner, a Nintendo Wii, a Playstation 2 (fat original model w/i.Link) a cable modem, and a WiFi router, chargers, etc all running off the same power strip from a single socket of one outlet.

Anyway, there is a coaxial cable wire going through the wall and into a large walk-in closet in the bedroom on the other side... with NO closet light or outlet (STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!). I'd like to widen the hole and run a bit more so I can put my gaming PC with the cable modem, router, etc in that large closet with HDMI and network wires going back to the TV for some big-screen PC gaming and HTPC goodness. Obviously, I can't just add that to the same socket, so I'd like to run power into the closet from elsewhere in the bedroom. This is where my question lies. How much can I safely run off of that extention cord and what kind can handle it? It's a pretty damn beefy PC.

PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW with quite a bit running off of it:
-Q6600 G0 @ ~3.0GHz O/C (sure hope the closet doesn't hurt... I'll keep it open)
-Asus P5N32-E SLU PLUS
-nVidia GeForce GTX 280 (GPU duty)
-nVidia GeForce 9800GT (PhysX duty)
-Abit PCIe WiFi card (may switch for a dual-stream cable card tuner)
-24" Acer LCD
-Logitech G7 wireless receiver/battery charger
-G15 Keyboard (gen 1 w/ USB2.0 and blue lighted keys)
-MCE Remote receiver
-4xHitachi 1TB internal drives (older, higher-wattage 5-platter drives)
-eSATA drive(s)

Other stuff on the same drop-cord
-Philips AmBX ambient speakers, sub, fans, lights, wrist bar, and wall washer.
-Linksys WRT54G w/ Tomatoe FW
-VoIP cable modem (no handset)
-Scientific Atlanta cable box (may switch for a dual-stream CableCARD + tuner card)
-HAVA Gold Internet TV streaming device (like SlingBox but also an turns your cable box into an MCE-compatible network tuner; may switch for a dual-stream CableCARD + tuner card)

I still haven't firgured out what I'm going to do as far as wireless input for living room gaming. Considering that there is still plenty of power "on tap" in the PCP&C T-C 1KW and it isn't operating on peak efficiency without a little more load, I intend to move what I can onto it and get rid of the HAVA+cable box when I can get a dual-stream CableCARD. That's a lot more load on a single socket though, but obviouly there must be sockets that are OK at over 1KW for a 1KW PSU to exist.

I will gladly take any advice I can get. Is running all this off of a high-quality drop-cord ill-advised? I have no idea how else to do it. If I knew how to power any more of that off of the PSU for more efficiency, I would, even if that means running the PC 24/7 to keep the WiFi and Internet available for other PCs.

 

[Modelworks]

How much can I safely run off of that extention cord and what kind can handle it?

Extension cords are fine if they are the right ones for the job. Most home outlets are limited to either 15A or 20A per circuit. That means all the outlets on that breaker cannot add up to more than that or the breaker will trip. 15A = 1800 Watts, 20A = 2400 Watts .

The longer the cord the heavier the wire needed. For something like 20 feet then you need a cord with a wire gage of 12 AWG to not lose much voltage over the distance. You always lose some voltage in any wiring. In this case at 20A you lose 1volt, nothing important.

When you buy a cord look on it for the wire gauge to see if it is 12AWG , sometimes they mark them as 12/3 for 12AWG and 3 conductors. That size is good to about 40 feet before it starts to really lose voltage.


Something like this would be ideal:
http://www.amazon.com/Woods-2883-25-...194897&sr=8-26

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TPFFOG/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=hi

 

[CZroe]

Thanks. What end should I use a surge suppressor on? IOW, should I use it between the cord and the wall or between the cord and the equipment? Also, is there any reason to use two cords if they are coming from the same dual-socket outlet? Are their any concerns for running that much off of a single outlet on a surge suppressor?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You need to do a cost/benefit analysis. 🙂

Seriously, 15 minute trip to home improvement store plus $10 for a new outlet and another 5 minutes to install. Versus, same trip to hardware store and $25 bucks plus. I don't think this is a situation for buying online.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You'll be more then fine, just get a 14awg or 12awg to be safe. For permanent wire inside the walls code says 14awg for 15am and 12awg for 20 amp, you can oversize but not undersize. If this is to be used as a permanent setup I'd get a heavy duty 12awg one.

Also I would definably change all those outlets if they're that bad. Chinese have very low code standards, if any so they're fine there (and their bamboo houses probably burn down a lot) but here you don't want to go cheap on electrical. You can get a 10 pack of leviton decora ones for fairly cheap at Canadian Tire, Rona, Home Depot etc...

 

[CZroe]

You need to do a cost/benefit analysis. 🙂

Seriously, 15 minute trip to home improvement store plus $10 for a new outlet and another 5 minutes to install. Versus, same trip to hardware store and $25 bucks plus. I don't think this is a situation for buying online.

I already said I was going to replace the sockets... I have to: They are almost unusable. Hardly anything you plug in to any one in the apartment works despite the fact that they are all brand new. The only one that does work is in the bathroom and it is completely different (has test/reset buttons). Even if I replace them all, I still need the extention cord. There is no outlet there and the one on the other side of the wall already has a complete home theater running through ONE socket due to the stupid light switch which is adding even more attenuation to that socket even if I bridge it.

If you are saying that I need to solve this by installing a new one in the closet, how does a new outlet installed in a closet magically get wires running through an apartment to a switch box with a circuit breaker installed? How is tearing up the walls in multiple rooms easier or cheaper especially when you would be fined by the property owner? 😉

 

[country2]

Why are you replacing the outlets?..it's a rental. Tell the landlord and if nothing is done get hold of the proper authorities as it sounds like its a electrical safety hazard.

Also if there is a outlet on the other side of the wall for the closet if its Sheetrock I'd just cut into the sheetrock install a new outlet with a cut in box and wire into nearest outlet and not tell the landlord.

 

[CZroe]

Why are you replacing the outlets?..it's a rental. Tell the landlord and if nothing is done get hold of the proper authorities as it sounds like its a electrical safety hazard.

Also if there is a outlet on the other side of the wall for the closet if its Sheetrock I'd just cut into the sheetrock install a new outlet with a cut in box and wire into nearest outlet and not tell the landlord.

He'll just replace them with more crap from China (he literally *goes* to China for half his junk). You should see the mess he made when he replaced the AC and the outlet/circuit breaker couldn't handle the new one. The idiot just switched them around in the breaker box.

Anyway, cutting into the wall to get to the outlet on the other side would not only defeat the purpose of getting the cable/network equipment load off of the home theater's limited power, but it would further compound it by adding on a 1KW PC + high-drain LCD and sound/light/tactile-feedback system (Philips AmBX Premium) to the same wiring intended for a single socket of a single outlet.

 

[country2]

Let me clear up the wire into nearest outlet... cut into the circuit inside the old outlet box and extend the run out (add on to it). Example kill power on the wires going to the nearest outlet and remove them from outlet run new wire to new outlet use a short length of wire to hook back up to old outlet and wire nut it all together this way your not running off the old outlet but extended the run out and added a outlet, You can use the outlet box as a small junction as long as its not over crowed. Also don't worry about the load of wattage its the amp load you need to figure out.

Of course if your not comfortable with doing wiring disregard all this...