Leaving extension cords buried under snow until spring

[Speedster]

So far I've been lucky in January and have been able to pull up all extension cords during the tear down of our Christmas display.  One thing that helps is that I always lift the cords up after every snowfall so they're on top of the snow (doesn't look too nice during the day, but pretty much guarantees that the cords can be put away during tear down).

One of these years I know I won't be able to pull up some cords that are frozen to the ground (possibly because of freezing rain, or snow that melted and then refroze).  Has anyone had to leave extension cords buried under snow/ice until spring, and will doing that damage them?  I'm not too worried about the thicker gauge ext cords I bought from Menards, but wonder if my 900+ feet of DIY SPT-1 ext cords would survive the winter if I couldn't pull them up until the spring thaw.

[Richard365]

Left mine out all year rolled up. Only notice that my orange cords the color faded. They are designed for outside. 

[Mr. P]

3 minutes ago, Richard365 said:

Left mine out all year rolled up. Only notice that my orange cords the color faded. They are designed for outside. 

That's okay as the orange cords aren't that good anyway.  😁

[PhilMassey]

9 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

That's okay as the orange cords aren't that good anyway.  😁

One more time................🤣

[Little_b]

I haven't had too many issues pulling the cords up through the snow.  You do need to be careful with some of the thinner cords as the sheathing can break more easily, exposing bare wires, when they are cold.  In the spring, I usually find a cord or 2 still in the yard that I missed during tear down.  Still work.  One bit of advice, when coiling cords, warm them up a bit before trying to coil them tightly.  I usually leave them in the house for a day or two to warm up.  I have had some of my SPT-2 cords break on me when they are cold.

[Brian Mitchell]

I usually end up pulling the plugs off of a couple things while getting them out of the ice, but no problems with extensions waiting till spring. 

[Richard365]

I just bought 500'  of 16 conductor wire. To run to my singing monsters and skeletons.  I am putting plugs at the ends. So, make it simple  to just unplug the cable. Take down the singing monsters and replace them with the trees and snowman. Then reply, boom done.  Now I will have one cord instead of 8 extension cords to each project.   I will have alot of extension  cords now. But I won't be tripping  over them.  Trade them in for a raft. 4 days of rain last week. 2 days this week. Backyard is underwater.  Going be 63° today. 

[k6ccc]

24 minutes ago, Richard365 said:

I just bought 500'  of 16 conductor wire.

Is this for low voltage or 120 volts?  A lot of many conductor cables are intended for low voltage only.

26 minutes ago, Richard365 said:

4 days of rain last week. 2 days this week. Backyard is underwater.  Going be 63° today.

Send some of that rain our way - we need it.  Almost 80 here yesterday.  Got high temperature alarms in the box on the back of my pixel tree that holds the two pixel controllers, in the power supplies box on the pixel tree, my attic, and my data cabinet...  Supposed to cool down.  Low 70s for the next few days then in the 60s starting Christmas day.

 

[jfuller8400]

Most of my cords (including SPT1) are routinely buried under ice & snow for months (It was late May last year before all of the ice finally melted).  I haven't had any real issues.  I'm more likely to cause an issue trying to yank them out of an ice flow when it's below freezing outside.