Bread machine woes.

Had exactly this issue with my EV charger and was rewiring a 32 amp cable at 5 in the morning on Wednesday!

Tim

Very likely.

What are you going to use to join up the wires - Wago connectors?

When you repair it, why not fit a strain relief protector? For examples see (

I'd better get myself a test meter. I suppose the break could be anywhere

I'm tempted to use what I've already got which are the common translucent plastic terminal blocks with a cramping screw for each wire; which I'm prepared to be advised against.

These look good, though I might need to find a variation, or modify to fit.

I think it is too. It's part of the removable panel that exposes the initial electrics. There aren't many options to use an alternative without big mods.

It seems to just cramp the wire tightly at the entry point. No sign of an other sealing methods. As it stands the current method seems to have squeezed the cable too much.

That could well be the cause of the problem.

It's a lot like that, except it's part of the removable cover plate rather than a separate piece.

Handy, but not usually necessary.

Unlikely. Where does the flex undergo the greatest amount of acute flexion? It will next to the fixed points be where it’s clamped (appliance or sometimes plug, usually appliance). Just trim off the last few inches and remake the internal connections.

Tim

Excess cable and having to “lose” it by coiling it up doesn’t help with some pinch points, I shorten appliance flexes to suit their location relative to the plug as it keeps thing a lot tidier. Usually by cutting off the moulded plug and fitting a wireable one but if access is easy and terminations straightforward then at the appliance end. The only appliance we have which gives regular cord fracture problems is our Sebo vacuum cleaner , well designed in many ways but has a weakness where the flex enters the handle. But its only a couple of screws to remove the cover so it is a quick job to remake after shortening by a few inches. At a rate of having to do it about every three years I’m a long way from needing a new flex yet.

GH

Thank you. Looks like the way to go. Maybe for the live an neutral connector I could buy the same type of connector and just use the cable end of the connector unit. Is it necessary to have special tools to wire these connector parts?

I'll definitely use the shorten cable to fit the situation method.

I’ve done that, and then regretted it when we’ve had to rearrange things and the wires were too short. ;-)

Tim

That connector is a bit of a pain. Yes, you can get special tools to “de-pin” such connectors but then you would need new pins crimped to your wire ends.

Options.

One would be to just cut the flex immediately “upstream” of the clamped bit (as the break is almost certainly just beyond it. Retain the end with the plug and add a scotch block or Wago connector to rejoin the flex (having trimmed a few inches off the rest flow “downstream” of the clamped bit).

Hopefully there is enough room inside the appliance casing to accommodate the old and the new connectors. Not best practice though as you’ll now have two cable connectors in series.

Better would be to replace the connector with something else (Wago, scotchblock etc.) but that might depend on how much slack you have in the machine end of the cable. Cutting, soldering and heat-shrink sleeving might be doable.

Tim

Thanks for the advice Tim. I'm going to go for three inline Wago connectors. I don't quite know why the earth wire was made remote from the live/neutral pair, but by using this method I can maintain that separation. I'm hoping to be able to crush the existing connectors to remove them in such a way that the available lengths of wires will be at their max, meagre as that will be on the machine side. I think having to cut the wires back and then baring the ends to place in the connectors will leave them very short and pretty inaccessible.

(...)

I'd cut off the connectors on the cable about where the sleeving ends, and solder an heat-shrink-sleeve these to a new cable, like Tim said. Possibly slip silicone insulation tubing over the connections as well, though it doesn't look as if the manufacturer expected heat at the cable end.

The wires in the machine are insulated with high-temperature woven insulation. not easy to cut, and the bits in the connectors will be crimped on. Easier to work on just the cable outside the machine.

Thomas Prufer

On looking more closely at the job I think you're right It seems like the Wago connectors will add unhelpful bulk just in the wrong place. The whole repair can be done as you suggest, off the job, then just replugged as a finale.

Thanks for all the help and advice on this. As a result of the input from uk.diy members the bread machine is now chugging away happily.