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Insulation Tape

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
The wires on my iron are exposed slightly in one place, will taping it over with insulation tape make it safe or do I need to buy a new iron? I don't want to get electrocuted!

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Making it safe would be a bit of an overstatement, but it'd probably do you until you can buy a new iron if, say, you had to do emergency ironing today for some reason.

    How deep is the cut? Is the copper exposed or just the flex covering?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Are the insulated wires exposed, or the bare copper strands?

    Before taping it up, you need to think about the condition of the wire you can't see... there's no point bundling it up if exposed strands are present, as you may well end up pushing them together and actually creating a short...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What they said,

    If the wires are not exposed then it isnt a problem, if the wires are exposed I would recomend binning it and buying a new iron.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Providing it would leave you with enough length to still iron, you could chop the cable at the damaged area and rewire the plug.

    As long as there's no more than one core damaged you shoudl be fine to insualte it. Best way of insulation is using heat shrink tubing to cover the area. Failing that use electrical tape instead.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A budget iron from somewhere like Argos is easy to get- my advice is better be safe than sorry. My dad always said don't take risk with anything electrical- not where you should economize by using improvised measures
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Shrink would require a lot of extra work. Just wrap it in tape, and buy a new one asap. Don't leave it plug in for too long either.

    Take off plug. Slide down shrink wrap (which costs pennies). Heat shrink wrap. Put plug back on... DONE

    Worth the cost of even a cheap iron.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You guys are technocrats! :yippe:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://www.electricalcomparison.co.uk/Matsui_MIR101_.html

    This costs £6. More expensive than electrical tape, but a lot safer if you don't know what you're doing.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    I know, but then you have to have the experience of taking apart and putting a plug together safely. Also, you have to have heat shrink, and something hot enough to heat it (Hair dryer isn't enough). But either way works, just what the OP has available :D

    I'd hope everybody that uses this site knows how to wire a plug safely - it's not technical. Maplins sell heat shrink - worth having around. And you can shrink it with a lighter if you don't have a soldering iron.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    I'd hope everybody that uses this site knows how to wire a plug safely -



    Agreed, it's not rocket science.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But equally, it's not something that you'd get taught anywhere now apart from maybe stuff like Guides and Scouts. It's definitely not done in schools any more, and becoming a much rarer skill now you're no longer allowed to sell electrical appliances without an installed plug.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wiring plugs is far less common than it once was. It's far from rocket science, but I can see why plenty of 15-20 year-olds wouldn't have done it...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They do teach it in schools still....
    I learnt it in Year 8 and 10, and that was only 3 years ago, but tbh I'd be so scared of electrocuting myself I'd make friends with an electrician.

    Gx
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    15 years since I was at school, but I don't recall being taught it then - but it was a more common household task. You'd be alright doing it, just find someone who knows what they're doing to give you a demonstration. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What's it got to do with school? Any decent parent should show you how to do it. It's a life skill.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It certainly was... but everything is pre-moulded these days. Do parents still routinely show how to use the scrubbing board, or how to clean out the coal fire? ;)
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    It certainly was... but everything is pre-moulded these days.

    So? Do plugs never get damaged anymore, do you not find you still have to run power cable through tight spaces. These are relatively commone things when installing electricla appliances such as fridges, freeezers, washing machines etc
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not saying they don't get damaged, nor that some appliances ship without them. But user interaction with plugs is bordering on non-existant these days, and given the target-audience of this site there's a very good chance that a number of people visiting won't have needed to dabble with such things.

    I think you'd be surprised at how many washers and fridges these days are already moulded. :)
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    I think you'd be surprised at how many washers and fridges these days are already moulded. :)

    They all are. Electrical appliance have to have moulded plugs by law. BUT it's not uncommon for you to have to cut the plug to thread the cable through a narrow or a hole before you can plug it in. In whioch case you need to rewire.

    I probably wire up several plugs at work a week because my job involves installing electrical appliance in bars. But a couple of times a year I'll have to do it at home aswell.

    Even if somebody's never done it, it's a simple. Buy any plug from the hardware store and you get a carboad diagram that fits nicely over the pins telling you what goes where. And unless you have some seriously old appliance the colours of the cores are universal. If you can use a screw driver you can wire a plug.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    is the live wire still brown :/
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    yep.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks for the replies. The copper wires weren't exposed, just the casing. I've taped it up with insulation tape now.
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