The importance of inspection with the eyes

marconi · May 15, 2019

Recently, my wife and I organised a charity supper and we cooked for it using 20 slow cookers borrowed from family and friends. I was pre-occupied with cooking, but my wife - who I had taught how to wire a plug years ago - thought it would be a good idea to check the plugs on those we had borrowed. This is what she found:

[ElectriciansForums.net] The importance of inspection with the eyes

freddo · May 15, 2019

5 poorly wired plugs is a lot out of 20!

static zap · May 15, 2019

None had my favorite rattle - earth screw undone !
( in the past it was 50:50 if cord grip was even present )

littlespark · May 15, 2019

freddo said:
5 poorly wired plugs is a lot out of 20!

That’s 2 poorly wired plugs and an inability to post only one photo of each.

Still 2 too many though.

Your friends are going to stop letting you borrow their electrical equipment if you’re just going to criticise how they fit a plug.

static zap · May 15, 2019

Garden extension reels could well be the worst item ..
for un-approved joins ,and poor plug wiring-in the past.

Dustydazzler · May 15, 2019

Most common issue I find at the plug top end is missing cord grip followed by the earth cut out of 3c flex

Charlie_ · May 15, 2019

Did you repair and apply green stickers or snip the plugs and apply red stickers?
20 pots, what was the total load?

Zerax · May 15, 2019

Charlie_ said:
Did you repair and apply green stickers or snip the plugs and apply red stickers?
20 pots, what was the total load?

A friend tells me that in that the 'olden days'... slow cookers used a 100w filament lamp as the heat source.

DPG · May 15, 2019

That one where the live wire is trapped in the screw holding the plug together is a good one!

Mark42 · May 15, 2019

Zerax said:
A friend tells me that in that the 'olden days'... slow cookers used a 100w filament lamp as the heat source.

Yup, cf. Dimplex 'Flying saucer' bed warmers with a filament lamp inside, with matt black internal paint (nice, but somewhat hopeful, physics

). I still have two, in bright 60's pink and yellow.

Tell you what though: there's two egregious examples of plug-top wiring, but all hail the British three-pin: although horrible, neither of these were actually dangerous.

KEV 1 N · May 15, 2019

This was probably why manufactures started to fit moulded plugs to their products.
I can just about remember when they didn’t come with plugs and I got this

one Christmas, and remember my dad having to rake around in the garage for a plug to put on it.......i think he ended up chopping the plug off the lawn mower!

Dave OCD · May 15, 2019

Ever been stuck on a job for a plug and had to nick one off your own kit-such as an extension lead ? Just asking,never ever happened to me.

Andy78 · May 15, 2019

Dave OCD said:
Ever been stuck on a job for a plug and had to nick one off your own kit-such as an extension lead ? Just asking,never ever happened to me.

Not me but my work mate constantly suffers from this syndrome, usually affecting his working day as he forgets to put a plug back on essential equipment.
His home CU was also at one point full of replacement mcbs due to him robbing all his own rcbos for jobs.

You can't help people like that.

Charlie_ · May 15, 2019

Dave OCD said:
Ever been stuck on a job for a plug and had to nick one off your own kit-such as an extension lead ? Just asking,never ever happened to me.

Just have a plug made off with wagos on the end ready to receive all those pieces of kit that need a plug..
1 plug fits all