IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE…

…where magic works and AC outlets can be summoned out of thin air with a quick incantation, this warning on an electric pipe warmer with a three-foot power cord makes sense:

Do NOT use an extension cord to reach the receptacle.

Comments

  1. STW says:

    I suspect there’s a nice house in Fox Chapel that was paid for by the settlement made possible by not having that warning. You’ll still use an extension cord but, if there’s a problem, you were warned.

  2. An electric pipe warmer? Are we talking, something to warm up your heirloom meerschaum pipe (that your wife makes you store and smoke in the garden shed so you don’t stink up the house) before lighting it, so the sudden heat doesn’t crack the cold bowl? Or an electric blanket for the plumbing in the upstairs bathroom so it doesn’t freeze and leak in the winter?

    • Dr. Boli says:

      It is a warmer for the plumbing in the kitchen, which is a one-story addition to the ancient house, surrounded by cold air on all sides but one. The pipes freeze when the outside temperature dips below 15 on the Fahrenheit scale, and the kitchen staff have been complaining about the long trek to the cellar for water.

  3. Captain DaFt says:

    So the obvious remedy is to use the extension cord to reach the pipe warmer.
    It’s just a matter of which end you plug in first.

  4. RepubAnon says:

    Perhaps checking the required amperage, and choosing an extension cord meant for electric tools rather than one designed to warm one’s house by igniting its surroundings?

  5. John says:

    Believe it or not, an arc welder works great for thawing the pipes and it doesn’t come with a warning (but I wasn’t really looking for one). It doesn’t work with plastic pipes though.

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