turbojimmy wrote:
Chris Bryant wrote:
Voltage is all that matters- I run air conditioners off a 100 foot #12 cable all the time- voltage maintains above 115 volts.
Me too - plugged into a 20A outlet. No issues.
I always check for heat at the ends of the cord but haven't had any issues. I'd like to think if there were enough heat the breaker would trip.
Heat at the connectors wouldn't necessarily cause the circuit breaker to trip because the circuit breaker is responding to current only. Hot connectors are usually the result of a poor connection somewhere--either between the pins/blades and their receiving contacts, or between the wire and the connector. A poor connection has higher resistance, which means both an observable voltage drop and some power being dissipated at the connection (as heat).
The circuit breaker is sized so as to prevent the wire itself from heating too much due to its inherent resistance. It should keep your 12 gauge extension cord from overheating dangerously (assuming it's not confined in a small area, such as by being coiled, so that the heat can't escape readily, and is undamaged, and isn't running through a campfire...).
If a circuit breaker somehow responded to heat far removed from the breaker, it would make tools like soldering irons a complete impossibility.
