How not to wire a 13-amp. plug!

[pwdrive]

The stick the wires in method was used in my field service days mainly for the soldering iron as nearly all the houses had different types of sockets ie: round, square, wylex etc. in the workshop it was usually the trusty (or not so trusty) death lead on croc clips.

Lawrence

[Tedzed1]

This takes me back to the time when I was around 15-16 years old,
my next door neighbour who was a similar age to me, found an electric drill at our local tip when I lived in Lichfield, (In them days, you could help yourself to items without anyone bothering you).

So he took said drill home to see if it worked & set about fitting a plug, I popped into the house, and when I came back out, he was staggering about the back yard, teeth clenched, tightly holding onto the drill, so I quickly shot into his shed, and unplugged the extension lead it was plugged into.

When I re-emerged from the shed, he was throwing the drill up against the wall, uttering expletives which cannot be repeated on here, I found out in the end that the drill had a strange wire colour coding, one wire was white, one was black, and i cannot remember what colour the third wire was,
needless to say, he had managed to connect the metal body of the drill to LIVE.

I think the drill went straight back to the tip.

[Skywave]

White, black and green are the colour-codes for American equipment - and usually 115-v. stuff too. I wonder if someone had replaced the mains lead? I guess we'll never know.

Al.

[Shaman]

Hi Al, jeez what a bodge, makes big bangs and pretty flashes eh.....regards...Alan.

[singlepentode69]

I have seen this sort of wiring lots of times . I also had a hedge cutter from someone in for repair where the cable had been cut through and spliced back up with the live and neutral swaped . This was owners buy the same chap who I helped do his garden cut through the cable and set fire to his privet hedge and I had to stop him chucking a bucket of water on from the adjacent water but.
Robin

[Refugee]

Oh yes but has anyone ever found a fuse rated at less than 13 amps in a badly wired plug?
If you do it would be a gem and would have to be on camera in an instant and as such a thing would be so rare that it would be criminal not to take a photo
Mind you the volume of the audio may be compromised when the fuse blows if they don't fit a 13 amp in a badly wired one. They won't be able to hear it go BANG
My gallery:-

[Skywave]

Oh yes but has anyone ever found a fuse rated at less than 13 amps in a badly wired plug?

Err, yes . . . . now and again.

If you do it would be a gem and would have to be on camera in an instant and as such a thing would be so rare that it would be criminal not to take a photo

Again, in my experience, not a rare as you state. When I do meet such a thing, I carry out a repair as required. To me, that's a more constructive use of my time than taking a photo.

Al. / June 9, 2013 //

[camallison]

As an electrical/instrumentation drawing office office apprentice in the late 60s, I remember spending some time showing our department clerk how to wire a 3-pin plug. He was extending (as it turned out) the cable on a standard lamp at home. I understood he was putting a new cable (his words) on it. That evening, he had gone home and diligently wired a new 13amp plug onto the new cable exactly as I had told him.

Next morning he came in to work saying I must have got it wrong as it "blew up" when he switched it on.

So, that evening I detoured via his home to check it all out.

He had correctly wired the plug onto the new cable, then stripped back the other end cores. These he had twisted together with the 3 cores of the old cable and then taped over the join.

He and I never did see eye to eye after what I called him - remember, I was only an apprentice and he was the Oberleutenant drawing office clerk - he who issues pencils, only to the privileged few.

I often wonder if he ever attempted another "difficult" electrical task.

Colin

[pwdrive]

All the time, with fuses from metal foil to chicken wire to 6mm metal bar....

Lawrence.

[boiss]

Seen at the rear of a bar here last year, Instead of the fuse, a piece of 13mm copper water pipe. I might still have the pic somewhere.
Mike