Electrical extension cords are tremendously helpful for powering gadgets when your gadget’s energy twine isn’t lengthy sufficient to succeed in {an electrical} outlet. Regular extension cords have a so-called male plug that goes into the wall and a feminine plug on the finish the place you may plug in your gadget. There’s completely no motive for male-to-male extension cords to exist, however they do. They usually’re obtainable on Amazon, a lot to the exhaustion of federal security regulators.
The U.S. Shopper Product Security Fee issued an odd new warning on Thursday, telling shoppers they need to cease shopping for male-to-male extension cords on Amazon. The cords are apparently bought to individuals underneath the idea that plugging one finish into a house’s electrical outlet and one other finish right into a gasoline generator will get the house electrified. However you clearly mustn’t do one thing this silly.
“The extension cords have two male ends (a three-prong plug) and are typically used to ‘back-feed’ electrical energy to a residence throughout an influence outage by connecting a generator to an outlet within the dwelling. When plugged right into a generator or outlet, the alternative finish has stay electrical energy posing a danger of significant shock or electrocution,” CPSC defined in a put up on its web site.
Once more, don’t attempt to do that. It’s idiotic and unsafe. However CSPC felt it wanted to make this warning specific.
“Moreover, the movement of electrical energy within the route reverse to that of the everyday movement of energy circumvents security options of the house’s electrical system and may end up in a hearth. The quick size of a few of these cords additionally encourages use of a generator close to the house, which might create a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Moreover, these cords don’t adjust to relevant nationwide security codes, comparable to Nationwide Hearth Safety Affiliation 70 (NFPA 70),” the CPSC assertion continues.
For those who learn critiques for these sorts of cords on Amazon, you’ll discover individuals calling them “suicide cords,” and with good motive. Cease shopping for these cords. They’re not protected.
