me wrote:
On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:16:20 -0700, Too_Many_Tools wrote:


In about a month, I will be replacing a significant number of power
cords on a variety of metal and wood working machines.

So how long of a cord should a person replace them with?


Only as long as necessary (or in other words, as short as possible).

Are you talking about stationary equipment or portable?

The longer the cord, the higher the resistance/voltage drop/wasted energy.

For stationary equipment, you just want enough to safely route the
cable to the outlet without straining it.

If it is portable equipment, it depends upon how far from an outlet you
are expecting to work. If you almost always work a few feet from an
outlet, the standard 6' cord may suit you fine, using a proper extension
cord on the few occasions that you need it. It would be silly and
wasteful to wire all of your portable equipment with 30' cords so that an
extension cord is never needed when you usually work right next to an
outlet.

When I said "longer rather than shorter" I should have added that most
of my machines have 10' to 12' cords.

Chris