DP has just broke my dryer

[Pinkdreams]

I asked DP to move the dryer whilst I clean under it as I spilt something, he couldn’t move it far enough so got annoyed and pulled it, which has now completely snapped the plug. I’m so angry. My dad says we can just change it ourselves, would you call an electrician?

If you know that plugs are actually user-serviceable, yes.

If all you've ever known are moulded plugs, why would it even occur to you that you you could safely and practically cut off the plug and replace it yourself? Hardly anywhere even sells separate plug nowadays, at any rate.

OP, with respect, because it's a terribly wasteful thing to contemplate - to junk a perfectly functioning large white goods item because the flex has pulled out of the plug, or because the plug somehow got damaged. If you weren't taught to change plugs at school you're probably quite a bit younger than a lot of the posters who've responded (I was, AND at Brownies, and I'm almost 52). But surely you know that such a thing can be done and is a vastly cheaper option than taking it to the tip and buying new? And does your DH have an opinion on this or did he also think a new one would have to be bought?

Look, if you're nervous (I'll admit to being ever so slightly hesitant if I change a plug or fuse and have to look it up even though I'm fairly sure I can remember!) then just book in an electrician. He or she will be nice about it. They'll charge an hour's call out but you never know, if you make it clear you think this is all that's needed, they might fit you in on the way to somewhere else and not even charge for what's essentially a 5 minute job. And that's including the time taken to drink half a mug of tea.

30 years!!

Why not sell them without any cable either, so buyers 'just' have to buy cable and a plug and fit it ready for use themselves?

They did! During the late 1970s and 1980s, not all lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, and strimmers came with flexes, let alone a plug. Black & Decker were leaders in this concept, supplying their garden tools with less than 30cm of flex, which was terminated into a 2-pin plug, and supplied with a 2-pin socket to couple-up to that plug. The consumer had to wire onto the 2-pin socket their own flex as well as a plug, before it could be used.

It will come as no surprise I'm sure, that Black & Decker also used to supply a long flex with a 3-pin plug at one end, 2-pin socket on the other, and stored on a handy frame that could be reused for the life of the ensemble...at additional cost.

Has it? I’m 54, it wasn’t taught at my school. You tube was my answer.

@Topseyt123 I am tagging you in this, because in my quoted message I addressed some of the questions you raised.

Always.

Try and push a 3 month olds fingers into a UK socket, they won't fit!

Actually, don't try this...!!

Wow, thanks for the info - I don't remember that actually being the case!

Stupid, isn't it? If you're selling an appliance, sell an appliance; not 90% of an appliance.

To be fair to the people who are incredulous about the OP's ignorance about changing a plug, she says in her second post she thought it was safe to change a wall socket but not a plug. That defies logic, one is connected to the mains supply and the other has no electricity running through it when unplugged.

I didn't say it wasn't fiddly. Just that it's not difficult. In terms of the fiddliness, that part is just trial and error and keeping on going until you've mastered it.

Stripping the wire isn't difficult either.

Of course, no one knows how to do anything before they've done it. It doesn't mean those things are difficult. Just that you haven't done them before.

I managed to read the labels. My dad taught me how to do it as a child but it's not something I've had to do very often so always refer back to the label to check the correct wiring.

Looking at mine, it has a thickened cord at the plug. I wouldn't call an electrician but I wouldn't do it myself, DH is fortunately very practical.

Surely the whole idea of moulded plugs on new appliances being legally compulsory - not just ones that somebody at the factory had wired in by hand, as you did often see before the law changed - was precisely intended to deter people from touching plugs themselves?

It put a definite barrier there such that, if you do know what you're doing and are confident, it's no big deal to grab a pair of strong scissors and fit a new one yourself; but if you don't know what you're doing, it gives out a clear message not to dabble with it and to ask a qualified/competent person to do it for you.

I took this image straight off a search on Google for Argos lawn mowers 1986. An appliance with a flex supplied was a selling feature! All the garden appliances they were selling stated IF they were supplied with a flex, and usually how long it was.

Just to confirm, there is no regulation that plugs have to be of the moulded type, they can be "normal" rewireable plugs too, so long as they have been fitted to the goods before they go on sale (AKA "factory fitted"). I have noticed in recent years that most plugs are moulded now, but up until very recently it was just as common to find a rewireable plug on a new appliance as it was a moulded type.

Personally, I'd see whether you can get a replacement moulded plug flex fitted to the dryer by an electrician.

The tumble dryer takes one of the biggest electricity loads of any appliance. I would not want that power going through a plug I'd wired myself, in the moist environment of laundry drying.

Perhaps ask your insurer whether electrical fires or accidents are covered if you replaced the plug yourself.

How on earth would the op even know this was an opinion when she's only seen incased plugs supplied by manufacturers ?
People are so quick to stick the boot into a young girl asking for advice. What is wrong with people? seriously!! and older women bullying young women 😡

I'm so sorry for the hard time you're getting here op, my daughters are 28 and 26 and wouldn't know you could change a plug as they were tiny the last time i did it and that's when you could take apart a plug with a screwdriver and replace the amp. This video should help ☺️

I know plugs can be wired, my dad did it once with an electric heater. But honestly, I am 40 and was never taught that at school. Even if I was, would anyone hardly remember it? There's no need to go on at the OP about it.

She asks right there in the OP whether she should call an electrician. At no point has she said she was going to throw the dryer out. She has also said she is only 28.

Wow - like in the days when seaside B&Bs would proudly proclaim on their signs outside that each room had a COLOUR TV - and a shaver socket too!!

Oh, thanks - I never realised that manually wired-in plugs were still legal!

changing a plug is a standard year 10 science lesson where I work. One of the most useful things in the curriculum. Just change the plug

I think there are a lot of bullies on this thread! There was a decision taken somewhere ages ago that electrical appliances had to be sold with a plug sort of welded on, to make it more difficult for idiots to replace plugs. When I was a girl there was a whole charity which taught women how to rewire plugs (free) - and yes, they would teach men too. It is easy. But nowadays because everything comes with a plug, we have a ghastly throwaway society and people are assumed not to want to do this any more!!!!

My advice - buy a good quality plug. I was gonna say MK, which is what my electrician husband would say, but looking at the comparitive prices I think they are taking the piss. So buy a mid range one, not the cheapest out there.

Second bit of advice, you will need a fuse as well as a plug. Other people have said this. Buy a 13 amp. Things that heat up need higher amp fuses. 😃

Third bit of advice - youtube or even a diagram will show you how to wire it up. An undervalued but very important part of the wiring is the bit at the 'neck' of the plug - just where the wire comes out and becomes visible. There is a sort of bridge here which is the final bit of wiring you do. Once the three little wires are safely screwed in, you do this up TIGHTLY to make sure that anyone tugging the main wire can't pull the whole installation out. I can't post an image but I am talking about what's called the cable grip in some of the pictures I've just found for you!

THIS.

I'm not from the UK, we weren't taught how to change plugs in schools and I wasn't in brownies (or a local equivalent).

But the first thing I do when something breaks down or any DIY is needed - go on google/youtube and check whether I could fix it/do it myself. Many things are fairly straightforward and perfectly doable. Like hell I'd be a helpless damsel and call an electrician or any other tradesman, and pay a bunch of $$$ for a doable task. Basic common sense to me.

Like installing a washing machine. Changing the plug. And the like. An easy 5 min job you can do yourself if you're able-bodied.

I learned to do this as a child!