[SOLVED] Is coiling ac wire around rod good or bad?

[Nuke7777]

I have excess wire length around 4-5meter extra. for ac supply to my computer system. So I decided to coil it around metallic leg of my table.
I don't have any electrical expertise. But I know coiling ac wire around iron bar creates some kind of magnetic field and flux.

So my question is - is it ok to coil it?

Please clarify on three topics below.
Hoping that I don't get electric shock by touching the table. ( Ofcourse wire is properly insulated.)
Hoping that my electricity bill doesn't not ramp up due to creating some magnetic filed because of coiling.
Some people may mention that heat generation may be issue. But as its metal rod which has greater thermal conductivity than air, I think wire will stay cool.

The wire consist phase neutral and earthing. All three.

 

[refillable]

Basic electromagnetics. When you coil it all it does is strengthening the magnetic flux around it. The current, in this case, however is not big enough to make any noticeable difference. I doubt it will make any difference for you.

 

[Lutfij]

If you need to manage wires for excess length of cable from the wall socket, manage them with cable ties and not coil them around a leg or a pole. Also, why do you have so much excess? People usually have 2~3 meters at max from the wall socket to the desktop, even if it were a power strip or a surge protector.

 

[BogdanH]

Winding power cable around metal rod... one just doesn't do that. Coil itself increases total resistance (cable resistance + coil inductance), which creates heat (consumes power). And if you add metal rod to that, you actually increase power load (that's how transformers work).
It's hard to predict how much heat it's generated and amount of power loss, because it heavily depends on coil characteristics. Btw. it can easily happen that phase tester will lit on all wires.
As Lutfij suggested (above): shorten your cable and keep wiring tidy and clean.

 

[dorsai]

I would suggest buying a new plug and shortening the cord as an extra 5 meters is a lot of extra length.

As far as wrapping it around a table leg technically it wont make any difference at all unless you're using straight wire for some odd reason. Standard extension cords are twisted to disrupt the possability of significant induction...it's not likely to even create a measurable induced voltage. Still it would be better to just coil up the extra and tie it off instead of wrapping it around a potentially conductive table leg.

 

[BogdanH]

Standard extension cords are twisted to disrupt the possability of significant induction

Not really true.. Most power cables aren't twisted and if they are, that's purely because of manufacturing process. And even if they were, that wouldn't have influence on whole coil inductance at frequency of 50/60Hz.
Wires are usually twisted in cables which are used at very high frequencies, to prevent inductance/capacitance between each wire in the cable.

 

[Nuke7777]

If you need to manage wires for excess length of cable from the wall socket, manage them with cable ties and not coil them around a leg or a pole. Also, why do you have so much excess? People usually have 2~3 meters at max from the wall socket to the desktop, even if it were a power strip or a surge protector.

My household electrical was too old. So only one switch board in one room and it was really far. Now I shifted my computer table near switch board but I still have excess wire. So I coiled excess around the leg of table.
It is definitely not heating up though, even in this 35 degree outside temperature.
Heating is not an issue. Power consumption and safety is much of my concerned.

 

[dorsai]

Not really true.. Most power cables aren't twisted and if they are, that's purely because of manufacturing process. And even if they were, that wouldn't have influence on whole coil inductance at frequency of 50/60Hz.
Wires are usually twisted in cables which are used at very high frequencies, to prevent inductance/capacitance between each wire in the cable.

High frequency is typically straight and low frequency is twisted to disrupt induction...that's why telephone wire is twisted and CATV is not. Extension cords are almost always twisted...the exception are cheap 2 wire cords with no ground.

 

[Nuke7777]

In my case, phase and neutral are twisted. Earth isn't