The wide blade of the plug is the common. (Whte wire) The narrow blade is the power (Black wire.) If your cord is like a heavy duty lamp cord, flat rectangular shape with a grove running the full length between the conductors that is properly called "Zip cord" because it can be separated like a zipper. Rub the outer covering of each conductor with your finger nail. One wire has a smooth covering while the opposite wire has very small ridges running the full length of the wire. The wire with the ridges is the identified conductor and is supposed to be attached to the common side of the circuit. (White wire side).

Fire hazard is why I mentioned holes in the rug. I thought maybe it was specially finished around the outlets. If that's possible. Not sure how big the sewing machines are that edge rugs whether they'd be able to edge around holes in the rug. Maybe than can up to a certain distance. I thought about it being just for the picture too, but didn't see any outlets on the walls either. Hmmmm....there are such things as cordless lamps. Just not sure what sizes and styles they come in.

I do not doubt your advice, and will follow it in the future, but could anyone tell me why allegidly reputable national home stores sell these little heat-shrinkable splicing kit? Wouldn't the store and manufacurer be concrned about liability if a fire occurred? Same question for extension cords? Also, if I dismantled the heater and installed a completely new cord the proper way, as recommended, why is it dangerous to make the cord longer than the original equipment came with?

The reason that I started this thread was because in a recent visit to my father I found that he wanted to replace the plug on his vacuum cleaner with a non-polarzed replacement. I noticed that the original plug was polarized and vetoed the plan. I guess that I have not been paying much attention to the fact that there are lots of devices that do not have polarized plugs. I have been looking in the past few days and I see that there are many. A week ago, however, If you had asked me I would have said that there are very few if any. My misperception might stem from the fact that in the olden days nothing was polarized and more modern stuff is so I assumed that non-polarized plug equipment was being supplanted rather than a modern option. I can see why a non-polarized plug is desirable since you don't have to pay attention to how it goes into the outlet.