I'm looking to route some appliance cables (microwave, lights, radio etc
- I'll keep it to 13A max though - the feed is to an extension block) through the kitchen worktop to tidy things up and free up sockets above the counter. The grommet would be out of sight - behind the microwave for example.
I bought one of these 80mm, just to see:
It's fine, but a bit flimsy - the cover could pop off quite easily. And possibly 60mm would do it.
Anyone experience of similar?
I have one behind the TV for power and hdmi cables. Seems fine to me?
You bought standard office deck cable covers and yes, they are useless.
What about a brush seal:
(sure you could find those in the UK with a bit of ebay wibbling)
You can get them in solid metal eg
Owain
why do people use those? It makes a 1cm hole into an 8cm hole
NT
So you can fit the moulded 13A plug through without cutting it off, throwing it away (responsibly), finding a spare plug and stripping the flex to fit it.
Owain
To save the effort of (or in a corporate situation the maintenance visit for) replacing the plugs.
If you take/cut off the plugs you just have to be able to poke the wires through a very much smaller hole. Use a bit of waste pipe or plastic electrical conduit. It comes in various diameters but 32mm or smaller may do. Drill the hole, seal the cut with external use PVA, insert the pipe leaving it proud of the work surface by, say, 15mm, silicone around the pipe to provide a waterproof seal to stop water dripping down the hole/cable when cleaning the worktop, let everything dry/cure, feed the wires through the pipe and re-attach the plugs.
In an office environment they are often hidden behind the computer or monitor. Fitted to a kitchen worktop it looks like a messy bodge
Well you either comply with wiring regs, or do as I do and have sockets fitted below the worktop where you can't reach them without pulling out some of the appliances. And then rely on having a CU breaker labelled "Kitchen ring main" to provide isolation on faults.
But moulded-on plugs are *much* more reliable, especially for high load appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, and tumble dryers.
The usual way to handle that is to have a 20A DP worktop level isolator switch on each socket that's inaccessible.
Yes. That's what we did.
Me too.
The blindingly obvious solution is to undo the cable from the appliance end (Fridges, dishwashers, washing machines and tumble driers, all have their mains cords terminated on screw terminal blocks with re-usable cord grips - plugs may be moulded on but the mains cords most definitely are a user replaceable item) and thread that end carefully through the 8 or
10mm hole or channel in the plaster on the back edge of the worktop immediately below the mains socket (making sure of not plugging it into said socket until *after* you've reconnected it to the appliance) and "Bob's Your Uncle!".Simples, really. :-)
This is how I installed our under-worktop fridge over 15 years ago. It's a nice neat solution (cable disappears into a 10mm hole channelled into the plaster behind the worktop about 4 or 5 inches immediately below the socket). There's plenty of slack to pull the fridge clear for cleaning its heat exchanger pipework and the area behind. It saves the cost of a generic replacement plug, retaining the original and nicer looking colour matched moulded on plug.
In many cases, it's easier to reterminate the original cable to the appliance than it is to chop off a perfectly serviceable moulded on plug to replace it with a generic plug. There's no need to strip off the outer insulation and then trim the wires to length and bare them for fiddling them onto the plug terminals. All that preparation work has already been done for you at the appliance end by the manufacturer, leaving you the simple task of reterminating the preformed end of the cable you'd just removed and securing the cable clamp strain relief. Indeed, its not difficult to make it look as though the connections had never been disturbed in the first place.
If you're worried you might get the live and neutral wired arse about face (the yellow/green earth wire terminal location is usually blindingly obvious), you can take a few snapshots with almost any cheap and cheerful digital camera (dedicated or built into your typical and ubiquitous "SmartFone" these days) to make a photographic record of the original wiring layout before you start pulling it apart.
Hint: the built in flash typically ruins more than it enhances most amateur attempts to photographically document such work.
Far quicker to replace the plug, and a far less ugly result. Even better put some sockets where you won't have to drill holes in the worktop.
NT
Oh, I needed a laugh, after going four miles yesterday in search of milk.
Owain
Tha's fine if you are starting from scratch. If you are retro-fitting appliances, then the OP suggestion is the easiest way to go.
from where I'm sat it's obvious that it's not. But each to their own.
Absolutely agree, I always switch to 'never use flash' as my default setting and very rarely need to enable it.
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