mobeewan wrote:
You have to help coil and uncoil the cord by slightly twisting the cord slightly one way or the other as needed when pushing the cable in or out of the hole. Practice by sticking the end of a garden hose into a 5 gallon bucket. You can't feed it in and get it all inside by just pushing it straight into the bucket. You have to twist the hose slightly as you feed it into the bucket and it will coil easier.
When pulling the cable out the opening it tends to bunch up sometimes if one coil slips over the other. You may have to work it loose by twisting it and pulling or pushing a little to unbind it.
It is a bad idea to leave a cord or cable coiled with power running through it. Especially when it may be running the max amount of amps the wire is rated to handle. It has a tendency to heat up because of the resistance created by the magnetic field generated by the coils. The same principle as winding a wire around a nail and sending a current through the wire to turn the nail into an electro magnet.
Excellent description. I have seen coiled welding cables catch fire due to the heat generated by the magnetic field.
