Message Forums

Quote: Originally posted by cwdc56768 on 01/12/2011

---

There we have it, then, by using something like Faradays law we can determine if it is safe to leave the coil wound up when plugging it in. For the less scientifically minded use the overly simplistic approach of Robin when he said

OMG can we just agree its dangerous to use your cable while tightly coiled!

Phil

---

Some have given me a smug,know it all look and kept theirs wound up around a big cotton reel shape

That'll be the "it's health and safety gone mad" group

Phil

Quote: Originally posted by arc systems on 30/11/2011Tightly coiled wire is used to produce the heat in expensive induction hobs. Crude as a coiled hook up cable is and while current is passing through it, it is still an induction coil.It is not then simply due to being coiled and not being able to dissipate the same heat it would produce if laid out straight.

---

It's the magnetic field created by being a 'coil' that produces the overheating!

So it's 'tightly coiled' that's the problem, loosely laid but still roughly coils or loops, even over lapping so as to be kept out of harms way, won't cause a problem.

---

The correct way to lay out any excess cable is to lay it in a figure eight pattern,this also aids recovery if you reel it back on a spool and avoids any kinking.

Saxo1

Quote: Originally posted by saxo1 on 02/12/2011

---

The correct way to lay out any excess cable is to lay it in a figure eight pattern,this also aids recovery if you reel it back on a spool and avoids any kinking.

Saxo1

---

The curly bits you refer to are as a result of not laying the cable out correctly and winding it up wrongly,it's difficult to explain but if you are rolling it up by hand you should alternate the lay of the cable. It may appear inconsequential but if you kink a cable while rolling it up ,if it is warm, there is a risk of the copper cores migrating through the insulation and resulting in another electrical/fire risk.

Saxo1

Hi arc systems, Must admit I some times wind up cable hand and elbow, though I do this very loosely, and after sliding of elbow cable tends to twist into figure of 8, and next time it is unwound, it has some times got a few kinks in cable, though mostly lies flat, still have to de kink it, if wound tightly round elbow and hand, it may very well be worse, so there may be some basis for your theory.

Quote: Originally posted by arc systems on 02/12/2011

---

What I never do is wind it up between thumb and elbow, like wool! I'm fairly sure it's this method that badly twists the cable and you end up with a right mess when laid out and it won't lay flat!.

---

Originally posted by jshw

Hi arc systems, Must admit I some times wind up cable hand and elbow, though I do this very loosely, and after sliding of elbow cable tends to twist into figure of 8, and next time it is unwound, it has some times got a few kinks in cable, though mostly lies flat, still have to de kink it, if wound tightly round elbow and hand, it may very well be worse, so there may be some basis for your theory.

Yes, I can confirm this, having spent many years winding up various vacuum cleaner cables. I have one cleaner currently working with me who insists on using hand and elbow to wind up the cable, no matter how many times I've asked her not to. It's ok for the first couple of times then the damn thing will twist and get kinks in it, getting worse the more times it's wound up like that, and if I have to use a vac that she's previously used I usually spend the first couple of minutes straightening out the cable.