A gauge 14 extension cord can safely carry 15 A What will happen if several appliances drawing a total current of 18 A will be connected to it?

A 14 gauge extension cord can safely carry 15 amps, but not very far. Number 14 gauge extension cords are only rated for about 13 amps according to the labels on the cord. This is because the insulation is not intended to withstand the heat of currents above this level. Running this cord over 50 feet or loading it to 18 amps would be unacceptable.The likelihood of the cord maintaining the 18 amps for any amount of time for the high current to do any damage to the insulation of the cord is not very great. Extension cords are only an extension of the 15 amp wall circuit that they are plugged into. On overloading the extension cord by that amount the overload will trip the 15 amp supply breaker. An example of this is jamming a circular handsaw when it is plugged into the end of a 50 foot extension cord. The next action that is taken is to reset the tripped breaker.