Best Way to Hook Up Freezer

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Larry from Arkansas on the line who’s got a landlord running an extension cord from his home into Larry’s place, and Larry wants to hook up freezer. This does not sound good. What is going on?

LARRY: The extension cord is plugged into our front porch. And it’s connected to a light at an attached shed. And the real problem is I’m thinking about putting a freezer in the shed. And I strongly suspect that that’s not enough electrical support for a freezer.

TOM: Probably not. And the thing is an extension cord is supposed to be a temporary solution, not a permanent solution. If you want to run power to another building, shed or not, on the same property it should be run properly, which is generally underground with cables that are rated for that, that are tied into their own circuit with a proper circuit protection.

So, this is a shortcut, which I wouldn’t recommend and especially if you want to hook up freezer. Freezers pull a lot of power when they – when the compressor kicks on. So, you kind of have this voltage drop that happens when they first kick on, because of the draw. And so, I would suggest that if it’s something you really want to do, you should think about having a circuit run there. That’s really the best way to go.

LARRY: I will check into doing that. I was concerned.

TOM: And rightfully so, Larry. Rightfully so.

LARRY: Well, he’s got the extension cord buried maybe a couple of inches some places.

TOM: Oh, he buried it?

LARRY: Yeah.

TOM: Oh, man. That’s really dangerous.

LARRY: Yeah.

LESLIE: No, because extension cords are meant to be air-cooled.

TOM: Well, yeah. But they’re not – they’re certainly not designed to be underground. That’s a certain rating for wiring. Yeah, yeah. Really dumb.

Should definitely take that out, Larry, OK? Good luck.