Ever seen your neighbor doing yard work with one of those nifty little extension cord reel? Reels can be a nice way to organize and store your cords, cables, ropes, Christmas lights, etc. They help lengthen the lifespan of any cord, and eliminate the lump of cord mess some of us have in our garages.
Ok, so you want to stop winding your cords the old fashioned hand and elbow way... well then go get a reel! Before you do you better know which type of reel to buy, because there are many different types with different kinds of features. Not all cord reels are the same, and some can get pretty expensive depending on the features. There are many types, I've outlined some of them below:
The first kind of extension cord reel is your standard manual spin reel. These wind the cord into a spool container. These are probably the most typical and most inexpensive extension cord reels in the marketplace. They're also the easiest to wind. We recommend these for your fifty to one hundred foot extension cable.
The next reel is a hand wind reel. These reels would be the type that you simply wind the extension cord about by hand. They act sort of like a spool for your cable to go around. These work similar to the standard hand and elbow wind strategy we all learn in boy scouts. These are the cheapest reels available and are not enjoyable to use.
The third type of reel is a wall mounted reel. Most reels offer this kind of feature in addition to being portable. These are generally more heavy duty and include a cord, and they're a lot more expensive. These could be really helpful within a garage or shop and may wind extended lengths of cord. Do not use these in case you expecting to get your extension cord with you to various places, as these are mounted to a wall.
The fourth kind of reel is a bucket reel. These reels wind the cord into a bucket that you can take with you from job site to job site. These function excellent for long and light extension cords, but may also wind numerous diverse varieties of materials, like audio cable. These kinds of reels work great with audio cable, all you DJ's out there.
The fifth style of reel is a retractable or spring loaded reels, these wind themselves. They're the very best type of reels in my viewpoint, although they come at higher price. When you're all done with your cord, just tug on it to reel your cord back in. Most of these have a self-lock mechanism that keeps it from winding up the cord while you're working with it. These kind of reels make an incredible addition to any carpenter's shop.
Now go find yourself a nice extension cord reel, and enjoy.
If you want to find out more about kinds of extension cord reel and the various types of retractable extension cord reels do a search for extension cord reel reviews.