A task that everyone at some point in their life will have to do. It is also a common cause of electrical faults. Even though it is now UK law that all electrical products must come with a fitted plug, it is possible that the plug will become damaged during general wear and tear.

Here are the basic steps required to wire up a standard UK plug.

 

1.  Strip off about 4-5 cm (a little less than 2 inches)  of the outer sleeve of the cable, you can do this by slitting the sleeve lengthways and then stripping it away, neatly cutting it off.

Wiring a plug

2. The next step is to cut the wires to the correct length. Line up the wires with the opened plug to estimate the required length of each of the wires.  Use the diagram below to align your Blue, Brown and Yellow wires to the correct terminals. In older plugs, you may find that they have different colours. For example.

Red -> Live

Black -> Neutral

Green -> Earth

Wiring a plug

3. You must trim off around 5mm at the end of each wire. Unscrew each terminal and place into it the end of the correct wire. Tighten up the the screw making sure the wire is secure and that there is no bare wire showing.

 

4. Next tighten the cable grip around the outer cable sleeving. Make sure that the grip is pushing down on the sleeving, not on the inner wires.

 

5. Make sure you are using the correct fuse. A quick guide is below. The rating of your appliance should be displayed on its exterior.

Up to 700W -> 3 Amps

700W – 1200W – > 5 Amps

Over 1200W ->  13 Amps

 Wiring a plug