Wire Length

maltrab

Administrator
Staff member
It seems more and more home electrical products are using much shorter mains cables, bought a toaster the other day and it needs to be within 12 inches of a power socket, anyone else noticed this, I cut the lead of the old toaster as a lump of wire can always come in handy, and it was over twice the length
 
For some appliances it's supposed to be a safety measure, to avoid wires getting draped across the cooker or prevent the extra wire being coiled up creating an induction heat hazard. But even vacuum sweeper cables seem to be shorter now ...
 
Definitely a money saving exercise by manufacturers, as Graham mentioned each product they sell with shorter cables will be a vast savings in productions cost
 
I think the idea is that theres less wire hanging down so to give kids one less thing to hang themselves on or pull off the counter because god forbid you say no to the little darlings. It can be a pain in the randoms, I had to order a 3 meter phone charger so I could still move about when the phones on charge.
 
Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Never mind Pearl. if you trip up on that long cable I'm sure you can sue the retailer!
 
Are you certain there isn't more cable wrapped around the underneath of the toaster?

A bit dangerous having such a short lead - I tend to move my toaster out slightly so it's not directly under the wall units - sounds like you can't move yours much.

Really needs sending back and complaining about.

Some ovens come with short flexes - making it impossible to connect to the wall and push back.
 
Are you certain there isn't more cable wrapped around the underneath of the toaster?

A bit dangerous having such a short lead - I tend to move my toaster out slightly so it's not directly under the wall units - sounds like you can't move yours much.

Really needs sending back and complaining about.

Some ovens come with short flexes - making it impossible to connect to the wall and push back.
Yes double checked and no extra cable wrapped underneath, I also bought a new LED floodlight, same make as the 4 year old one that gave up the ghost a couple of weeks back, the old one had 2 metres of cable, ideal for running it through the wall to the junction box, the new one had just 1 metre of cable, so I have had to strip the old lamp and fit that cable to the new one
 
Not sure if this helps or hinders :-

 
It seems more and more home electrical products are using much shorter mains cables, bought a toaster the other day and it needs to be within 12 inches of a power socket, anyone else noticed this, I cut the lead of the old toaster as a lump of wire can always come in handy, and it was over twice the length
They are trying to prevent young children from reaching up and pulling the appliance down on top of them. Or so they say, could be that they are saving money by shortening the cord. Also in modern kitchens they have a number of electrical outlets on the wall next to the spacious countertop. So they assume that you do not need a longer cord. For those with older kitchens, not so many outlets and maybe not a whole lot of counter space.
 
I had this exact problem with a microwave I bought recently, I've had to reposition it in my kitchen from the previous one due to the much shortened wire. It's just another example of citing other reasons to conceal saving money, like GP's still insisting on phone appointments over face to face because of Covid :20::20::20:
 
I had this exact problem with a microwave I bought recently, I've had to reposition it in my kitchen from the previous one due to the much shortened wire. It's just another example of citing other reasons to conceal saving money, like GP's still insisting on phone appointments over face to face because of Covid :20::20::20:

Re the GP issue,we have changed our GP recently, what a difference to the old ones that even talking to the GP was almost impossible, often a nurse or receptionist would call you back, then try and fob you off quoting Covid, with our new GP they use Ask My GP, a few weeks ago I was up early in the morning with a fever with other symptoms I knew something was amiss, so I went online about 7am, and filled in the request for a doctor to call, at 8.30 am the doctor called and asked if I could come in at 10am, that was shock number 1, on seeing the doctor who did a thorough examination lasting 25 minutes, she said she wanted a blood test, then asked me to roll my sleeve up, job done, shock number 2, she was pretty sure I had a kidney infection, gave me antibiotics, called me 4 days later to ask how I was doing,shock number 3, and booked me in for a revisit just in case I was no better, shock number 4. After a full week of antibiotics I was better but not 100%, so they did more test which this time came back as negative, I think it was just my age while it took longer to fully recover, what outstanding service and regret not moving GP's some time back.
 
Also in modern kitchens they have a number of electrical outlets on the wall next to the spacious countertop. So they assume that you do not need a longer cord. For those with older kitchens, not so many outlets and maybe not a whole lot of counter space.
When I had my 1947 kitchen remodeled, I specified double the number of electric outlets required by the building code. I've never regretted it.
 
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