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Old December 11, 2007   #4
Worth1
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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Ok this is coming from someone with a LOT of experience in this sort of thing.

First you need to have 100’ extension cords that have12 gauge wire DO NOT use smaller cord as this will overload the wire in the cord and or cause the heaters not to run efficiently.

IF you have to use a smaller cord with the 12 gauge cord do not put it on the beginning of the run put it at the end and it should be at least 14 gauge wire and no longer than say 25 feet.
It would be best to just use 12 gauge cords.
If you only need 25 more feet then just get a 25 foot cord not another 100 foot cord.

Next, no need for shrink tubing just go to home depot or an electrical supply house and buy 3M 88 electrical tape and wrap the tape around the plug connections so no water can get into the live circuits.
If they don’t have 88 then get 33 DO NOT buy the cheap tape, get good tape as it will hold up in weather.

About 5 layers of tape will do fine

Make sure you are plugged into a GFI outlet if you don’t have one, then get one and plug it into the outlet first then plug your cords into them.
It should be of 12 gauge wire also.

Now this is for the paranoid.
If you are worried about the GFI tripping and you are asleep or in the house you can get a relay powered by 120 VAC and connect a 12 volt battery to a car horn.
Connect one leg of the wire to the horn directly to the battery.
Connect the other wire to the battery then to the common on the relay then the other wire from the horn the normally open contact on the relay.
Check to see which one is normally open while the relay is powered.
This way when the power goes off the relay will close and the horn will blow from the battery power until it runs down.

To make it simple if you use a 12 amp hour battery and a ˝ amp horn you should get around 24 hours of horn blowing.

Another option would be a secondary power source then you would just connect a different power cord through the relay so when the primary power tripped then the secondary power would kick in.

Just make sure the relay can handle the amperage that the heaters draw.

Worth
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