SWMBO bought daughter a pair of GHD hand held hair straighteners in August 2,002, from her freindly local hair stylists.
Just last week they went sparkle, sparkle, flash - poof *Bang*.
It seems the insulation on the mains cable had weakened (cracked open), at the point where the tapered strain relief grommet finishes, exposing live conductors. So I made a repair by removing the bad section, joining the severed ends by soldering and protecting the joint with heat shrink sleeving, and thence by self amalgamating tape, and finally by a big diameter heatshrink overall.
I was happy just to do a repair 'till my daughter said that several of her friends had the same experience and on checking I found heard that GHD had had a *bad batch* of hair straighteners. See Watchdog page :
I noticed that the mains lead did not comply with the standard European colour code since the cores were black and white, therefore presumably US standard although the mains plug was wired with the white to the live (fused) pin unlike the normal US convention (Plain white neutrals). Also the unit does not appear to be CE marked. I believe an item like this should have a technical construction file or somesuch which shows how compliance with European safety standards has been achieved. Can I insist on seeing this?
Just in case I have to get heavy over this, am I also correct in thinking that it is against the law to sell an electrical appliance with an incorrectly colour coded mains lead as is the absence of the CE mark, and does the panel agree that the alleged response of "Trading Standards" mentioned on the BBC website, to a fault which results in exposed live conductors at the end of the mains lead close to where it is held in the hand is rather inadequate?
DG