For three years I had been running a 5m indoor extension lead through the back door to power things in the garden. This is not a good system. The lead was not rated for outdoor use, which I knew and chose to ignore. It was not long enough to reach the far end of the garden, which meant anything I wanted to do at the bottom of the garden required either moving the work closer to the house or accepting that it was not going to happen. And it meant the back door had to stay open while I was working, which in a British spring or autumn is not ideal.
My name is Neil Barker. I am a forty-eight-year-old secondary school teacher from Cheshire, and I had been meaning to sort the garden power situation for most of those three years. The reason I had not sorted it was that I had been treating it as a minor inconvenience rather than a problem with a straightforward solution. It was a minor inconvenience every time I used it, which was every time I did anything in the garden, which added up to a significant amount of minor inconvenience over three years.
The Project That Made Me Act
I decided to build a raised bed at the far end of the garden in April. The far end of the garden is about 14 metres from the house. I needed a circular saw, a drill, and a sander. None of these could be powered from the house with a 5m lead. I could have done the cutting and drilling in the driveway and carried the timber down, which is what I had been doing for similar projects, or I could finally sort the power situation.
I found the Masterplug Heavy Duty Outdoor Extension Lead – 15m Orange Cable at ALTOE. The spec was exactly right. 15m length, which gave me a metre of margin beyond the 14m I needed. 13A rating, which handles power tools without any issues. Heavy duty construction rated for outdoor use, which the indoor lead I had been using was not. High-visibility orange cable, which matters when you are working in a garden where a cable on the ground is a trip hazard. Unswitched, rewireable single socket. Masterplug is a brand I had used before for indoor extension leads and trusted for build quality.
At £37.23 it was a straightforward decision. I ordered it on a Monday. It arrived Wednesday.
The Raised Bed Project
I used it for the first time on the Saturday. The 15m cable reached the far end of the garden with enough slack to move around the work area without the lead pulling taut. The circular saw, drill, and sander all ran without any issues on the 13A rating. The orange cable was visible on the grass throughout, which meant I was not tripping over it or running the saw over it accidentally.
The raised bed took about four hours to build. I did all the cutting and assembly at the far end of the garden, which is where it needed to be, rather than carrying timber back and forth. The project was straightforward in a way that previous garden projects had not been, because the power was where I needed it rather than where the house happened to be.
I also used it the same afternoon to power a hedge trimmer along the back fence, which I had been putting off because the fence was too far from the house for the indoor lead. That took about forty minutes. I had been meaning to do it for two months.
Eight Months On
The Masterplug outdoor lead has been used for every garden project since April. It has been out in rain, in sun, and in the cold of autumn. The orange cable has not degraded or cracked. The socket has not corroded. The 13A rating has handled everything I have put through it: circular saw, drill, sander, hedge trimmer, pressure washer.
The indoor extension lead that I had been running through the back door is in the garage. I have not used it in the garden since April. The back door stays closed when I am working in the garden. These are small improvements that I notice every time I go out to do something.
My neighbour, who has a similar garden and similar power tool situation, borrowed it for a weekend project in June. He returned it and ordered his own the following week. He said he could not believe he had been managing without one. I told him I understood exactly how that happened.
The Verdict
If you have been running an indoor extension lead through the back door to power things in the garden, stop. Get a proper outdoor-rated lead with enough length to reach where you actually need to work. The Masterplug 15m Heavy Duty Outdoor Extension Lead is the right choice: the 13A rating handles power tools, the heavy duty construction is genuinely weatherproof, the orange cable is visible and safe, and 15m is enough for most gardens. It is the purchase that should have happened three years ago.
Find the Masterplug Heavy Duty Outdoor Extension Lead – 15m Orange Cable at ALTOE. Listed in Latest Products, Hardware, Power & Electrical Supplies, and Extension Cords.
Get the right lead. Reach the far end of the garden. Build the raised bed.
— Neil Barker, Cheshire
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