I'm essentially asking about power cords on electrical tools.
I know how to store higher gauge wires (e.g. USB) to prevent damage and sometimes something like a vacuum cleaner will have hooks to wrap the cord around and then a holder built into the plug that will clip onto the cord.
But when it comes to power tools with lower gauge – how can one store them in a way to prevent damage? What damage should I try to prevent? I'm leaving this pretty open ended for the sake of the site, but mostly sometimes my plug prongs get bent during storage. How can I prevent this type of damage from occurring if I'm storing these things in bins?
Damage such as –
Best Answer
Hand held power tools do have problems with the cord breaking at the strain relief as your photo shows it is more of a usage issue in my opinion because that is the point the cord gets constantly flexed at that point. I usually make a loose coil of the cords and lay the cord on top of the tool. Cords are not two difficult to replace or repair. a new cord cap needs to be installed on the lower photo so the ground is available to the tool and the top broken wire needs to be shortened or replaced. Some times if the rest of the cord is in good shape with a break at the strain relief I will move 6+ inches down the cord to get away from the area the wires have been abused and re-terminate the wires inside the handles. Loose coils on top of the tool would be my answer for power tools and for extension cords I connect the ends after coiling (and hang them on the wall) with the ends together they are protected from getting bent.