ACM                    Stretching a lead on a food mixer

This story occurred not long after I put a double-bowl sink in the kitchen of 3 Milton Road.  Plastic pluming, by then, was all the rage,  I don't like plastic pipes.  and I don't like plastic guttering either.  It's not that cheap, but certainly it qualifies as 'nasty'  I spent a few more pounds and fitted an inch-and-a-half copper waste (not the usual inch and a quarter).  It looked good and it was good.  It will last a lifetime.

The stainless steel bowls were not formally earthed, but obviously made a path to earth via the mounting of the two taps.  Jeanne was not electrocuted, but she got a good shock from the thin lead of the food-mixer.  Being a double-insulated device, the cord was only two-core and quite light weight.  Jeanne knew where she had touched the lead and showed me in detail.  Looking closely at the lead it was obvious that the plastic had been stretched, probably by being caught in the kitchen drawer.

It was just possible to detect a half-millimetre piece of copper wire protruding through the outer plastic jacket of the flex.  I reasoned that when the flex was strained, it fractured one or more of the flex strands inside the inner insulation.  As you know, stretched PVC will partially recover its condition once the strain has been removed.  I deduced that as the PVC recovered, the end of one of the 0.0076" strands poked itself through both layers of PVC.  Being a warm kitchen, the PVC would have been soft.

I replaced the lead and sent the damaged piece to the Cable Manufacturer's Association with a covering letter suggesting that they consider adding a strain cord to the flex as is often done with circular three-pole flex.  I got a letter back that essentially said that it was not a common fault and didn't need any action.

So beware,, if you put a device with lightweight flex into a drawer, my attempt at electrocuting the wife may well get repeated.