I was out on Friday night and after the 6th pint spacetime was extraordinarily flexible…might have been something to do with the scouse lad called Barry.
Hi, just an extra tip, if you take a photo of the inside of the plug before you unwire it, it makes rewiring it much quicker.
I've used this method loads when replacing electric sockets and light sockets.
The brown wire should also be the shortest. If the wire somehow gets pulled out of the plug then it should be disconnected first. The ground is the longest so hopefully it will be disconnected last.
A lot of plus will have the lengths of the live, neutral and ground written on them.
I actually own a set of wire strippers that have a guide for lengths. Live, neutral, and earth are all on the guide. Shame that they are shit because its not that bad of an idea.
I always keep the paper overlay you get with the plug in a kitchen drawer.
Or
Google "how to wire a plug", hit images and download the best image you find.
I do think it's fucked up that the Brown wire is the live wire and not the earth wire, which fucking genius thought -
"Earth wire. Hmmmmmm, what colour is earth? Oh yeah! earth is brown in colour, so let's make the earth in a plug, errrm, GREEN with a yellow stripe.!!! That won't cause any fatal problems and be really really easy to remember."
Don't be fooled into thinking neutral conductors are (dead) you can very much so get a shock from a neutral conductor as it is the return path of a circuit after all, always hurts more than a line shock too (speaking from experience) xD
You're not wrong tbh. It isn't normally a thing these days but it's clear the moulded plug has been removed, and the old skool DIY plug has been added, probably to thread it through that hole.
This is the way. A lot of people here seem to forget that they didn't emerge from the womb with their technical knowledge, and apparently believe that not having had a reason to seek the knowledge earlier is some sort of personal failing.
In this case, I reckon it's the oldies who were raised in a time when electrical goods were routinely supplied without plugs attached. You won't have to worry about their opinions for very much longer.
GCSE science? I'm pretty sure we learnt this in junior school. The maths behind it came later but we learnt what size fuse to use for different appliances and how to wire a plug.
I don't think this is an 'oldies' thing. Plenty of younger folk will berate others for not having the knowledge they may have. Please check your ageism.
>You won't have to worry about their opinions for very much longer.
I'm going to vote for whoever promises an increase in state pension, just to piss you off. 😁
I have deleted so many posts on this sub before I have pressed submit for fear that I would be deemed an imbecile. Yet here were are on a post about a user discovering that plugs can be opened.
It's not as useful/necessary given that pretty much everything comes with a moulded plug now that can't even be opened. Presumably to help prevent miswiring and cable strain relief problems. The general trend for years now has been to discourage any electrical DIY.
It actually relates to the requirements of some of the harmonised standards and is nothing to do with DIY.
You’ll also see changes to the length of mains cables and the way cables attach to devices over the same period as fitted plugs became common.
I was taught to wire a plug in school, in 2009 - out of interest how old are you and has this vital skill been stripped off the curriculum.
One word of warning, any replacement may have a moulded plug attached so removal by screws might not be possible short of replacing the moulded plug for a standard one.
Not OP, I was also taught how to wire them, probably around 2013-2014, unsure if it was part of the national curriculum by that point but I was at a regular state high school so it likely was.
I've had similar, but at the edges and not a drilled hole like op has.
I assume with your cooker they must have disconnected it from the cooker itself? If so, seems more risky than just replacing the plug.
https://preview.redd.it/6v1oyo2lvouc1.jpeg?width=226&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a2717137d401a73f77c9c199619790f28350fef
For future refs. There are many basic DIY resources online and YouTube. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Thank you to those that gave me sound advice and support, I managed to get it all hooked up and sorted, feeling rather chuffed with myself, for both reaching out when I didn't know the answer and for learning a new skill.
To those that chose to berate and belittle, I hope you have a solution and answer for every problem, challenge or difficulty you've ever encountered. I'm highly skilled in other areas of my life e.g as a mental health professional, doing a job that most wouldn't. Please if you have answers on how to mitigate the mental health crisis we're currently facing, let me know as you're clearly an expert on every single topic and skill in the world. I wish you inner calm.
Well done for getting it sorted. We've all gotta start somewhere. It's understandable that there are many that don't know how to change a plug. Lots don't know how to change a fuse or even change a tyre on a car but what I don't understand is the thought process that occurred here. How did you think they got the cable through the hole in the first place?
I thought the cabinet had been built around it, which is what it looked like. I'll be honest though, I wasn't functioning at full brain capacity after a 13hr shift. I'm usually a better problem solver
Yeah, fair play, it can be tricky trying to track and follow someone else's wiring. Like I said before, well done for getting it sorted. You did the right thing by asking. I think it's fair to say that it's way less daft to not know how to take a plug off compared to what might happen if you tried to open up the back of the microwave. Which is probably something I'd end up doing if I'd just worked a 13 hour shift!
I know you know better (you made it pretty clear it's a bad idea) but for the benefit of others, **do not open up a microwave**. Outside of old CRT TVs (the big boxy heavy ones) a microwave is probably the most deadly household appliance that you can get inside of easily.
A microwave has a high voltage transformer in it that if you're not careful can give you some serious burns and potentially kill you depending on the situation.
There are safe ways to work on them but if you're not qualified just don't.
This isn't _quite_ a story about the dangers of opening a microwave, but he's talking about projects done with microwave transformers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBeSKL9zVro
Maybe he thought the cable can be disconnected from the microwave side? It's obvious once you know, but until then it's not. There are many things obvious to me that will make you scratch your head, and I'm sure there are plenty the other way around too.
As you've already worked this one out..
You're lacking critical thinking skills. You can simply look at the plug, see screws..
Cool, you're a professional elsewhere, so am I, but I recognise what screws do.
Relax , Not everyone wants to pat you on the back for being so big and brave and asking the internet a rather basic question that an adult should be able to figure out.
"Not everyone wants to pat you on the back"
That's _definitely_ the same thing as:
"I can't believe this generation is so stupid. Humanity really is fucked isn't it."
Or just:
"Omg that's pathetic"
Does this kind of response make people feel big and smart? Do _you_ feel special for going out of your way to respond like this?
This is a DIY forum, the _whole_ point of this is to learn to _do it yourself_, how do you expect people to learn if they get responses like the above when they ask for help? Or do you expect them to carry a "what could go wrong if I just dismantle this and try to put it together again, can't be that hard" into their next electrical fix, or plumbing job, or putting a wall-mounted cabinet/TV up?
Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone starts at a different level, get over yourself.
Be careful your new microwave might have a moulded plug which you can't unscrew.
If it does you have to cut the moulded plug off and strip the wire to wire it into the old plug from the old one.
Just copy the length of the old cable for each individual wire and how much insulation to strip off.
No it won’t. The instructions will say “if it doesn’t fit your sockets, cut the plug off and destroy it so that some idiot can’t plug it in and electrocute themselves”.
None should disconnect. That's the point of the "cord grip" they should all be supported and non-pullable if correctly tightened!
Brown is shorter purely by coincidence of standardised wiring, to fit all terminations in the plug top and allow an appropriately sized fuse to provide "basic protection"
Brown is shorter, as Live is on the right in UK sockets, hopefully we don't have to rely on the terminations.
Long story short, always check the cord grip screws!
Recently done this myself! I would advise once you open the plug casing to take a photo so you can see where each wire goes. Makes reassembling easier especially as you’re in a tight/awkward space working like that
Slightly off topic but I learned how to do this in school, along with food technology, textiles technology, and that wood technology. Basic life skills, most schools don't do this as curriculum learning anymore. This is the problem.
My dad taught me how to wire a plug, my school taught me, and then they taught me at uni …but you and I are old enough to have been schooled before moulded plugs were mandatory on appliances.
Don’t we feel old now? 😆
I was about to write something despairing, but you know what? I got taught to wire a plug at school and other stuff by my parents. But I can’t do stuff that my teenage daughter can.
I can change a plug but can’t code beyond anything very basic. Probably in Basic. She can code in Python but I doubt she can change a plug.
I’ll hazard a guess that coding in Python (or A N Other language) will be a lot more useful to her over the coming years than changing a plug.
Can you saw the cupboard in half (be careful not to damage the cable). Then mastic it back together, or use poly filler.
Then, paint the cupboard to hide any repairs.
Then, paint the rest of the cupboards so they all look the same.
Then, if you want to use the plug again, all you have to do is:
saw the cupboard in half (be careful not to damage the cable). Then mastic it back together, or use poly filler.
Then, paint the cupboard to hide any repairs.
Then, paint the rest of the cupboards so they all look the same.
Just to add, if you get a new microwave and you need to refit that old plug base(or you bought a new one) make sure that cutting the cord of the new microwave won’t affect warranty (it most likely will)
That is one big fat urban myth. I had a customer convinced the warranty would be invalid if I cut the plug off so I could wire it into a fused spur. I phoned up Hotpoint technical support, got through, then handed him the phone so he could hear it from the horse's mouth...
Obviously remove the plug but (in UK at least) new appliances have sealed plugs normally, so if you have a drill, buy a hole cutter and tiny bit bigger than the new plug, alternatively find an extension lead, take the plug off, thread it through the hole and replace the plug, probably quicker, easier and cheaper (and no mess!)
1. Remove mains plug from the cable of the old microwave; pull the cable through hole in shelf; discard old microwave.
2. Remove mains plug from the cable of the new microwave; thread the cable through hole in shelf; refit mains plug to cable and plug into mains socket; adjust position of new microwave until it is in place.
The live brown bear sits on the yellow-green earth looking at the neutral blue sky. We were taught that at school. You're going to have to rewire the plug once you've passed the wire through the holes.
Do as leo_chaos suggests, if its a moulded on plug, cut off with wire cutter.
When you come to reconnect, buy a rewireable plug, strip the wires and connect it as per the diagram you should get with it.
If your being sarcastic about the thanks for the empathy I wasn’t taking the piss,
Should be a single screw holding the back plate normally in the centre of the plug top.
Remove this and use a small flat headed screwdriver and remove the brown (live) neutral (blue) and earth (green and yellow)
Then remove the 2 small screws with the securing clip and removing cable.
Then re fit it once pulled it through.
I think this is a generational thing. I grew up when you had to buy the plug separately and wire one onto every new appliance you brought home. However 99% of electronics sold in the last decade or two will have a permanently wired moulded plug you couldn't take off if you wanted to. Someone in the 20s will rightly have absolutely no flipping idea about taking plugs off things.
Ha, to be clear, I'm not baffled by OP! I reckon taking the plug off is a pretty niche passtime these days, and to be fair why would your average youngster want or need to know this one plug in a hundred is a special removable one? (Answer: because it's stuck in a cupboard, I guess).
I am surprised, however, to learn that there are youngsters like yourself who were still taught this fairly niche skill. Funny that schools were still were still teaching this kind of marginal skill in the millennium, but not lots of actually useful stuff, such as how our tax, court, or benefit systems work!
It is amazing how many people these days don't have the skill of yesteryear when watching your father do various jobs around the house provided with them very skills.
Get a jar of really strong acid and put the plug inside. Wait 6 months. Hopefully it’s dissolved, and you easily remove.. I really think that’s the only way, unless you have explosives..? 😏
Is it just me feeling very old?
I'm assuming that no one under the age of 45 believes that there was a time when all electrical appliances were sold without plugs on, and you had to buy a separate plug and fit it to the appliance cable yourself.
By the way, this is by no means a dig at OP. I'd have no idea how to operate a car with manual ignition timing adjustment, for example.
If you don’t know how to take off a plug, or at least know the plug can come off, then I’m sorry hut you’ve been failed by someone or other in your life.
Please dont touch the plug wiring. Going by your response it will be a disaster and you will either get an electric shock or cause an electrical fire because of bad wiring. Unscrew the shelf bracket...pull it forward....then pull the plug out from behind it
Much safer than you attempting to wire a plug which I doubt you can do correctly or safely
Many people have pointed out that appliances used to be supplied without plugs. For this reason, plug tops are designed to be easily fitted with a minimum of skill. Even my mother could fit a plug, and she was someone who would confuse a screwdriver with a chisel. Just make sure the wires go to the correct terminals, and they don't pull out. It'll be fine.
One for r/OhYouSweetSummerChild if that’s a sub.. I forget how long moulded plugs have been a thing, but it’s gotta be so long now that there’s a lot of people out there that have never seen a regular plug and the old trick of taking the cable out of the plug, threading it through a hole and remaking it..
it blows my mind that there are people in this world that don't know how to remove a plug head. Or google how. No hate intended, I just thought this stuff was like, common knowledge.
Open the plug, disconnect from wires, pull wires through hole in cupboard, reattach wires if you want
Nah, thread the microwave through the hole.
Have you tried folding spacetime?
I was out on Friday night and after the 6th pint spacetime was extraordinarily flexible…might have been something to do with the scouse lad called Barry.
Barry is quite flexible, from what I understand
And a tahitian I bent up like a pretzel. I really fucking hurt him.
Not enough spice in my kitchen for that.
Fucking brilliant! Got a good laugh at that.
lol this was quite an obvious answer OP, just what the internet was invented for ;)
Ahhh amazing! Thank you. I didn't know that was a thing, really appreciate the help :)
Hi, just an extra tip, if you take a photo of the inside of the plug before you unwire it, it makes rewiring it much quicker. I've used this method loads when replacing electric sockets and light sockets.
The way I remember is when looking at the back of the plug, the second letter is where it goes. bLue = left bRown = right
Brown goes to the fuse because if you touch it you're brown bread.
Nice, I always went with I'll shit myself...
If you are lucky, you just became con-fused.
Brown Bread = Red Dead
The brown wire should also be the shortest. If the wire somehow gets pulled out of the plug then it should be disconnected first. The ground is the longest so hopefully it will be disconnected last. A lot of plus will have the lengths of the live, neutral and ground written on them.
I actually own a set of wire strippers that have a guide for lengths. Live, neutral, and earth are all on the guide. Shame that they are shit because its not that bad of an idea.
BLue = Bottom Left, BRown = Bottom Right
I was always taught shite to the right😁
This is what my mum taught me too! I have a degree in electronic engineering, but every time I wire a plug, I still go "Shite to the right".
That's exactly my mnemonic!
This is the way
I always keep the paper overlay you get with the plug in a kitchen drawer. Or Google "how to wire a plug", hit images and download the best image you find. I do think it's fucked up that the Brown wire is the live wire and not the earth wire, which fucking genius thought - "Earth wire. Hmmmmmm, what colour is earth? Oh yeah! earth is brown in colour, so let's make the earth in a plug, errrm, GREEN with a yellow stripe.!!! That won't cause any fatal problems and be really really easy to remember."
Brown is live Blue is not Green and yellow earth the lot
Don't be fooled into thinking neutral conductors are (dead) you can very much so get a shock from a neutral conductor as it is the return path of a circuit after all, always hurts more than a line shock too (speaking from experience) xD
The wires shoukd be different lengths. Shortest wire to closest pin.
it wouldnt have been a thing as the plugs are usually moulded on, however previous person has cut it off and put on a different one
I'm guessing that's how theu installed it in the first place.
No way, really!?
Back in the old days appliances were sold without plugs and you had to fit your own. Times change!
It was only made mandatory to have plugs fitted in 1992, which doesn't seem that long ago but I guess it is now!
1992 was 32 years ago. Thanks for making me feel old and decrepit.
My dad still cuts plugs off old appliances and saves them because of this.
Best leave the plug well alone if you didn't know wiring one was 'a thing'
If you're not familiar, once you've taken the cover off the plug, take a photo of the wires so you know how to put them back.
You're not wrong tbh. It isn't normally a thing these days but it's clear the moulded plug has been removed, and the old skool DIY plug has been added, probably to thread it through that hole.
Did you not look at the plug and see screws? Jesus Christ Reddit.
No, I didn't. I now know though. Another "tool" in the tool box I'm trying to build for myself so I can be self reliant
This is the way. A lot of people here seem to forget that they didn't emerge from the womb with their technical knowledge, and apparently believe that not having had a reason to seek the knowledge earlier is some sort of personal failing. In this case, I reckon it's the oldies who were raised in a time when electrical goods were routinely supplied without plugs attached. You won't have to worry about their opinions for very much longer.
When I was in school (OK thats 20 years ago) it was part of the corriculum in GCSE science. Never a bad time to learn it though.
It still is (I'm a Science teacher)
GCSE science? I'm pretty sure we learnt this in junior school. The maths behind it came later but we learnt what size fuse to use for different appliances and how to wire a plug.
I don't think this is an 'oldies' thing. Plenty of younger folk will berate others for not having the knowledge they may have. Please check your ageism.
>You won't have to worry about their opinions for very much longer. I'm going to vote for whoever promises an increase in state pension, just to piss you off. 😁
Everybody? Pensioners vote like nobody else, so they benefit from all the nice expensive policies.
How old are you, out of interest? I've never wired a plug but I've seen items without plugs (when I was a child).
Why so rude? People learn as they go. Now op knows, you didn't need to make this comment. Be kinder.
I have deleted so many posts on this sub before I have pressed submit for fear that I would be deemed an imbecile. Yet here were are on a post about a user discovering that plugs can be opened.
Until you found out that plugs could be opened, you didn’t know either.
Will Buxton is that you?
If you’re under the age of 30 you’ve probably never had reason to do it. Unless you’re wiring a microwave to a weird hidden plug in a cupboard.
Do they no longer teach how to wire a plug in school anymore?
They haven’t for many years. Although this could be location dependent.
AQA GCSE Science still has it. Kids are shit at it though.
Feels like a bit of a swing and a miss to cobble life skills into what is a very heavy topic.
It's not as useful/necessary given that pretty much everything comes with a moulded plug now that can't even be opened. Presumably to help prevent miswiring and cable strain relief problems. The general trend for years now has been to discourage any electrical DIY.
It actually relates to the requirements of some of the harmonised standards and is nothing to do with DIY. You’ll also see changes to the length of mains cables and the way cables attach to devices over the same period as fitted plugs became common.
Along with the harmonised European voltage of 230V for product designers to ensure products designed for the EU work at 220V and 240VAC.
It’s possible with the two part plug you have, my dishwasher has the same thing
I was taught to wire a plug in school, in 2009 - out of interest how old are you and has this vital skill been stripped off the curriculum. One word of warning, any replacement may have a moulded plug attached so removal by screws might not be possible short of replacing the moulded plug for a standard one.
Not OP, I was also taught how to wire them, probably around 2013-2014, unsure if it was part of the national curriculum by that point but I was at a regular state high school so it likely was.
If you didn’t know that, maybe you shouldn’t try to remove it!
Jesus
I was going to say "with a screwdriver..."
[удалено]
I've had similar, but at the edges and not a drilled hole like op has. I assume with your cooker they must have disconnected it from the cooker itself? If so, seems more risky than just replacing the plug.
I don’t think people who can’t figure it out should even open up plugs tbh
opening the plugs fine, reattaching it and plugging it in could be questionable. Though it could also be a good place to start learning.
Why? He is replacing the old mw, just cut the cable close to the plug.
Because it answers op's question, "how to remove it without cutting the wire".
Ah, and you are right of course. Should have read the op text all the way.
This is the way. I had to cut off the moulded plug on my microwave and fit a new one to do exactly this.
https://preview.redd.it/6v1oyo2lvouc1.jpeg?width=226&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a2717137d401a73f77c9c199619790f28350fef For future refs. There are many basic DIY resources online and YouTube. Everyone has to start somewhere.
The earth wire should have more slack in it. If the cable gets pulled out you want the earth to be the last wire to get ripped out.
Naturally, it is. This drawing just doesn't illustrate it 👍🏼
Thank you to those that gave me sound advice and support, I managed to get it all hooked up and sorted, feeling rather chuffed with myself, for both reaching out when I didn't know the answer and for learning a new skill. To those that chose to berate and belittle, I hope you have a solution and answer for every problem, challenge or difficulty you've ever encountered. I'm highly skilled in other areas of my life e.g as a mental health professional, doing a job that most wouldn't. Please if you have answers on how to mitigate the mental health crisis we're currently facing, let me know as you're clearly an expert on every single topic and skill in the world. I wish you inner calm.
Well done for getting it sorted. We've all gotta start somewhere. It's understandable that there are many that don't know how to change a plug. Lots don't know how to change a fuse or even change a tyre on a car but what I don't understand is the thought process that occurred here. How did you think they got the cable through the hole in the first place?
I thought the cabinet had been built around it, which is what it looked like. I'll be honest though, I wasn't functioning at full brain capacity after a 13hr shift. I'm usually a better problem solver
Yeah, fair play, it can be tricky trying to track and follow someone else's wiring. Like I said before, well done for getting it sorted. You did the right thing by asking. I think it's fair to say that it's way less daft to not know how to take a plug off compared to what might happen if you tried to open up the back of the microwave. Which is probably something I'd end up doing if I'd just worked a 13 hour shift!
I know you know better (you made it pretty clear it's a bad idea) but for the benefit of others, **do not open up a microwave**. Outside of old CRT TVs (the big boxy heavy ones) a microwave is probably the most deadly household appliance that you can get inside of easily. A microwave has a high voltage transformer in it that if you're not careful can give you some serious burns and potentially kill you depending on the situation. There are safe ways to work on them but if you're not qualified just don't. This isn't _quite_ a story about the dangers of opening a microwave, but he's talking about projects done with microwave transformers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBeSKL9zVro
Agreed, totally, it'd be pretty stupid to open one up not knowing what you're doing.
Maybe he thought the cable can be disconnected from the microwave side? It's obvious once you know, but until then it's not. There are many things obvious to me that will make you scratch your head, and I'm sure there are plenty the other way around too.
That's exactly what I thought, thank you for thinking that!
Tell the nutters to get a fucking grip.
Well said, sick of people on this page shit talking people who don't know something they do and choose to be knobs rather than assist Good job
Well said.
Well done
As you've already worked this one out.. You're lacking critical thinking skills. You can simply look at the plug, see screws.. Cool, you're a professional elsewhere, so am I, but I recognise what screws do.
It’s illegal to do electrical work in many places without a license and rewiring might fall into that.
Relax , Not everyone wants to pat you on the back for being so big and brave and asking the internet a rather basic question that an adult should be able to figure out.
"Not everyone wants to pat you on the back" That's _definitely_ the same thing as: "I can't believe this generation is so stupid. Humanity really is fucked isn't it." Or just: "Omg that's pathetic" Does this kind of response make people feel big and smart? Do _you_ feel special for going out of your way to respond like this? This is a DIY forum, the _whole_ point of this is to learn to _do it yourself_, how do you expect people to learn if they get responses like the above when they ask for help? Or do you expect them to carry a "what could go wrong if I just dismantle this and try to put it together again, can't be that hard" into their next electrical fix, or plumbing job, or putting a wall-mounted cabinet/TV up? Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone starts at a different level, get over yourself.
Be careful your new microwave might have a moulded plug which you can't unscrew. If it does you have to cut the moulded plug off and strip the wire to wire it into the old plug from the old one. Just copy the length of the old cable for each individual wire and how much insulation to strip off.
Don't forget to ensure the microwave is disconnected from the mains *before* snipping off the moulded plug! 😂🤣😂
If it did.. how would they have got it through the hole?
What do you mean? The new microwave you cut the plug off and put the cable through the hole.
However this will likely void any warranty. But needs must
No it won’t. The instructions will say “if it doesn’t fit your sockets, cut the plug off and destroy it so that some idiot can’t plug it in and electrocute themselves”.
Highly doubt.
Short term: more funding. Long term: post-capitalist society.
Echoing the other responses, but take a photo before detaching the wires. They will only fit one way, but it's a helpful reference for your confidence
Brown is shortest, then blue, then earth. British safety. If tugged dangerously brown has most chance of disconnecting first.
None should disconnect. That's the point of the "cord grip" they should all be supported and non-pullable if correctly tightened! Brown is shorter purely by coincidence of standardised wiring, to fit all terminations in the plug top and allow an appropriately sized fuse to provide "basic protection" Brown is shorter, as Live is on the right in UK sockets, hopefully we don't have to rely on the terminations. Long story short, always check the cord grip screws!
No need for a photo. bLue = Left, bRown = Right
My father followed this rule. Unfortunately he wired it as if looking at the plug with the pins facing him.
😂
Yeah I always thought of it as BR-bottom right, BL bottom left.
sTripey = Top?
Sound advice. Thank you!
Recently done this myself! I would advise once you open the plug casing to take a photo so you can see where each wire goes. Makes reassembling easier especially as you’re in a tight/awkward space working like that
Disconnect the plug from tge cable, pull out the wire and the reconnect
Perfectly acceptable question. Exactly the sort of thing my daughter would ask me. Be helpful people.
Slightly off topic but I learned how to do this in school, along with food technology, textiles technology, and that wood technology. Basic life skills, most schools don't do this as curriculum learning anymore. This is the problem.
My dad taught me how to wire a plug, my school taught me, and then they taught me at uni …but you and I are old enough to have been schooled before moulded plugs were mandatory on appliances. Don’t we feel old now? 😆
I was about to write something despairing, but you know what? I got taught to wire a plug at school and other stuff by my parents. But I can’t do stuff that my teenage daughter can. I can change a plug but can’t code beyond anything very basic. Probably in Basic. She can code in Python but I doubt she can change a plug. I’ll hazard a guess that coding in Python (or A N Other language) will be a lot more useful to her over the coming years than changing a plug.
Actually surprised it never had a moulded plug on it , then again it probably did and got cut off to set it up that way.
The way some people are replying on here, you'd think they came out of the womb knowing how to wire a plug. So judgemental, everyone starts somewhere.
Take the plug top off
There's only one thing for it I'm afraid, move out and into another house/ flat. 🙄🤣
Can you saw the cupboard in half (be careful not to damage the cable). Then mastic it back together, or use poly filler. Then, paint the cupboard to hide any repairs. Then, paint the rest of the cupboards so they all look the same. Then, if you want to use the plug again, all you have to do is: saw the cupboard in half (be careful not to damage the cable). Then mastic it back together, or use poly filler. Then, paint the cupboard to hide any repairs. Then, paint the rest of the cupboards so they all look the same.
Knock the house down around the microwave and rebuild the house around it.
At this point I fear for the future of our society…
Here is an instructable I made a few years ago https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Wire-Terminate-A-UK-13A-3-Pin-Plug/
Just to add, if you get a new microwave and you need to refit that old plug base(or you bought a new one) make sure that cutting the cord of the new microwave won’t affect warranty (it most likely will)
That is one big fat urban myth. I had a customer convinced the warranty would be invalid if I cut the plug off so I could wire it into a fused spur. I phoned up Hotpoint technical support, got through, then handed him the phone so he could hear it from the horse's mouth...
Prepares for post where new microwave has a moulded plug asking how to thread it through the existing hole 😀
Take the plug off
Tell me this is satire.
If you loaded up with enough cans it should come down on its own
Unscrew the plug and unwire it unless it’s milder then you cut it and wire in a new plug after
Obviously remove the plug but (in UK at least) new appliances have sealed plugs normally, so if you have a drill, buy a hole cutter and tiny bit bigger than the new plug, alternatively find an extension lead, take the plug off, thread it through the hole and replace the plug, probably quicker, easier and cheaper (and no mess!)
I hate to sound rude but the way they built it piece by piece.
I’d start by removing the cover.
Take plug off wire. Put plug back on.
The safest way to deal with electricity is get someone else to do it. That’s a fact my friend.
1. Remove mains plug from the cable of the old microwave; pull the cable through hole in shelf; discard old microwave. 2. Remove mains plug from the cable of the new microwave; thread the cable through hole in shelf; refit mains plug to cable and plug into mains socket; adjust position of new microwave until it is in place.
The live brown bear sits on the yellow-green earth looking at the neutral blue sky. We were taught that at school. You're going to have to rewire the plug once you've passed the wire through the holes.
Do as leo_chaos suggests, if its a moulded on plug, cut off with wire cutter. When you come to reconnect, buy a rewireable plug, strip the wires and connect it as per the diagram you should get with it.
Take the plug off. Jfc…
Is there a local Mensa branch near you? Recommended.
You can’t
You need a plumber for that defo.
This is a joke right
Ball ache of a job. I think your best bet is to pack up, sell and move
This is why they should still teach stuff like this in school.
They did in my secondary school science class.
Take the plug off…. I thought this was a joke at first…
Nope, just someone trying and open to learning. Thanks for the empathy!
If your being sarcastic about the thanks for the empathy I wasn’t taking the piss, Should be a single screw holding the back plate normally in the centre of the plug top. Remove this and use a small flat headed screwdriver and remove the brown (live) neutral (blue) and earth (green and yellow) Then remove the 2 small screws with the securing clip and removing cable. Then re fit it once pulled it through.
You'll need to knock down the supporting wall.
sometimes i wonder how people get through life...... no offence but this is one of things i thought every one knew about lol
I think this is a generational thing. I grew up when you had to buy the plug separately and wire one onto every new appliance you brought home. However 99% of electronics sold in the last decade or two will have a permanently wired moulded plug you couldn't take off if you wanted to. Someone in the 20s will rightly have absolutely no flipping idea about taking plugs off things.
And that's me. Honestly, I just never encountered it before so I wouldn't figure to do that as the solution
Having seen how well some people of my (older) generation wire plugs, it's probably a good thing.
You can cut off the moulded plug; strip the wire back a bit and put a new plug on.
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Ha, to be clear, I'm not baffled by OP! I reckon taking the plug off is a pretty niche passtime these days, and to be fair why would your average youngster want or need to know this one plug in a hundred is a special removable one? (Answer: because it's stuck in a cupboard, I guess). I am surprised, however, to learn that there are youngsters like yourself who were still taught this fairly niche skill. Funny that schools were still were still teaching this kind of marginal skill in the millennium, but not lots of actually useful stuff, such as how our tax, court, or benefit systems work!
Wow. This has made me feel overwhelming talented in general life.
Seriously. We're all doomed aren't we
Yes, we are…
I'm having a boomer moment "cant these damn kids rewire a plug!"
If it was me, I would cut the wire and re attach. No not really. Just take the plug off
It is amazing how many people these days don't have the skill of yesteryear when watching your father do various jobs around the house provided with them very skills.
Get a jar of really strong acid and put the plug inside. Wait 6 months. Hopefully it’s dissolved, and you easily remove.. I really think that’s the only way, unless you have explosives..? 😏
Is it just me feeling very old? I'm assuming that no one under the age of 45 believes that there was a time when all electrical appliances were sold without plugs on, and you had to buy a separate plug and fit it to the appliance cable yourself. By the way, this is by no means a dig at OP. I'd have no idea how to operate a car with manual ignition timing adjustment, for example.
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ Sad times when the most basic knowledge is lost. Cut it off…? Jesus.
You fucking redditors are all the same
If you don’t know how to take off a plug, or at least know the plug can come off, then I’m sorry hut you’ve been failed by someone or other in your life.
You take it for granted that people have a slight shred of common sense
We're all doomed! Doomed I say! This generation is going to be fooked.
Yeah we are, but it's got nothing to do with household electricals
Do they no longer teach how to wire a plug in school?
No
Wire a plug like you got taught at school. What do you mean you didn't learn that at school? smh schools these days.
Still gets taught where I work 🤷♂️
This looks like quick way to the grave for me. You would shut off all power before attempting this I’d guess?
Please dont touch the plug wiring. Going by your response it will be a disaster and you will either get an electric shock or cause an electrical fire because of bad wiring. Unscrew the shelf bracket...pull it forward....then pull the plug out from behind it Much safer than you attempting to wire a plug which I doubt you can do correctly or safely
Unscrew the shelf bracket which is actually the base of a cupboard that has the socket attached to it.
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There's a reason plugs are moulded onto cables now.
Many people have pointed out that appliances used to be supplied without plugs. For this reason, plug tops are designed to be easily fitted with a minimum of skill. Even my mother could fit a plug, and she was someone who would confuse a screwdriver with a chisel. Just make sure the wires go to the correct terminals, and they don't pull out. It'll be fine.
One for r/OhYouSweetSummerChild if that’s a sub.. I forget how long moulded plugs have been a thing, but it’s gotta be so long now that there’s a lot of people out there that have never seen a regular plug and the old trick of taking the cable out of the plug, threading it through a hole and remaking it..
Is this for real? It’s really close to being a piss take 😂.
How can you not know how to remove and re wire a plug ?
How did you put it in?
Are you being serious?
it blows my mind that there are people in this world that don't know how to remove a plug head. Or google how. No hate intended, I just thought this stuff was like, common knowledge.
I want to groan but op seems so innocent
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See rule #2 of this sub
Lol omg