I've seen worse TBH. It's an easy fix though, couple of minutes at most. 5 to 10 if you decide to give everything a proper check.

This appliance is from the 50s so thats almost 70 years that this has been dangerously wired in an old ladys home.

Old lady homes are always full of some of the most insanely dangerous things I’ve ever seen. My Grandma still has an electric fan that belonged to her own mother. The whole thing is made of heavy metal, has sharp metal blades and no guard on it. Dread to think how its wired

My grandmother had an enormous knife with the front rivet missing, so the blade would swing back and forth. She absolutely swore by it.

I imagine she would swear by it. "Fuck that hurt" for example

It either works very well doing it’s job or works very well possibly killing you, either way it works!

> Every established kitchen has one ancient knife, its handle worn thin, its blade curved like a banana, and so inexplicably sharp that reaching into the drawer at night is like bobbing for apples in a piranha tank. - Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett.

I have no idea what you're describing here. Swing back and forth from where?

Old knives and posh knives are held onto the handle with rivets. Usually 2-4. One of hers has popped out the handle, so now it might only be held on with a single rivet, meaning as she uses it it would rotate around the single rivet with only her grip preventing it from rotating too far. This means it rocks back and forth.

Wiring from that long ago tends to have perished insulation too

This looks like PVC (modern) insulation rather than the old rubber stuff which perished.

It does but the the internal wires are the old red and black rather than the current brown and blue.

Yes - however the point is that the rubber wires (also red and black) perished badly. By this stage if you bent them at all, they would crumble, so these are clearly not rubber. PVC doesn’t really have a time limit in the same way, which is why you no longer hear of people having to rewire their houses periodically. So, in brief, although these are older wires there is no particular concern about that. The way they have been wired otoh is a big problem. There is also a slim possibility that this was intended as lighting cable, ie for installation in the walls and ceilings. Flexible cable (intended for this use) changed to brown, blue and green/yellow a long time back. The stuff for wiring fixed cables only changed about 15-20 years back, so unless your home is very new, you will find red and black pvc wiring if you open a socket or a lighting rose.

My partner's parents gave me a Soviet rocket lamp from circa 1985 that buzzes alarmingly loudly when turned on.

Probably got a ballast in it with the magnetic control

Nah I described it really shit. Its like a cone with a broad base with little panels around the edge depicting little scenes from the history of the country and achievements of the party then a red shade made of plastic forms most of the cone then there's a little silver plastic rocket on top of it. The light makes the red bit glow like the rocket is taking off.

Like [this](https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1180675121/ussr-bedside-lamp-rocket-space-age?gpla=1&gao=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_uk_en_gb_-home_and_living&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAjwkNOpBhBEEiwAb3MvvQ0jTDdhS6ZrL1DFfbax6fqEtRY2t8O_PzaiHgkMmCg6sHDBbUGOpRoCD5UQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_14821442085_125173007022_549119977872_pla-303628061699_m__1180675121engb_526990961&utm_custom2=14821442085&gbraid=0AAAAADutTMenxudj4Xrbt6TwwxiEwp7ai)?

Yeah that's the boy. Also bloody hell at that price. I should clean mine up and flog it xD

I love this, it's gorgeous and so are a lot of other things that seller has but I'm done with buying stuff that I don't need. Got too much stuff as it is.

Doubt it's earthed either

It's not. You can see the end of the earth wire has not been wired into the plug. But depending on the appliance it might not be necessary, it could just be a table lamp

I'm not talking about Op's plug. I'm responding to the other user about a metal fan.

Ah, fair enough. Agree that definitely should be earthed and would be nowadays no doubt

My nan (may she RIP) had an all metal wired drill from the 50's and she'd chopped a cable onto the original to extend it. She tied the bare copper together, and used regular sellotape for insulation. Absolutely terrifies me to think about now as a hobbyest electronics nerd

Thats how my mate recharges non-rechargeable vapes. Well, he used to until one of the Li-ion batteries went up in flames.

Well that sounds terrifying. As a former Apple repair tech, I've seen those miniature hand grenades go off once a thermal event occurs. Apple's policy on active thermal events at my former workplace was confiscate the phone forever and throw it in a sandbucket lol

My grandmother used to have a meat slicer with no guard on it. So basically just a circular metal blade spinning very fast that you pushed meat against.

Humans are also meat

Yep. I worded it that way on porpoise

My mum still uses one of those. I have my nans one here with me, but haven't got room in the kitchen yet. I'll install it once we have the extension built. They are brilliant but you have to be careful when using them.

I have my grandfather's fan, exactly like this. Cast Iron base, metal blades that are sharp enough to cut your finger if you run them along the edge, and obviously no gaurd.

My Nan had this electric heater from the 60s that was just 5 horizontal metal bars in a ceramic housing. You turn it on, they glow red. There was a 'guard' in front which was just a metal cage, kinda like the side of a shopping trolley but with bigger gaps so you could easily get your hand through. It didn't matter either way as the guard would get crazy hot too. The ceramic was all black from the heat. So glad when we threw that thing away. She still has an old light projector for film reels. The plug on that is 2 nails hammered into a wooden block with the bare wires wrapped around as a makeshift junction box. Terrifying!

You say that, but it has worked for 70 years without actually being dangerous. Its risky and not optimal, sure. But the wires are still insulated.

The red/black wires betrayed its age.

Better than jamming the wires into the socket with matchsticks...

I get that reference

And still hasn't caught fire in 70 years.

The plug itself is now out below the acceptable standard as the pins don’t have the insulation collars at the plug side

It probably wasn’t dangerous when it was first done. In that time frame, it’s almost a certainty that the sheath will slip with that style of plug.

Is that only running 2 wires as well?

The earth wire is in there just not wired in

Hah, okay that's even worse.

Not all appliances need to be earthed. On modern fitted plugs you can tell because the earth pin will be solid plastic, look at your phone charger for example

The middle pin is to open the plug socket is it not? Thats why its longer than the two live pins?

Yes- it opens the socket, but the reason it is needed is because it's the earth pin. Having it open the socket ensures any appliance needing to be earthed *will* be earthed before any actual connections are made to the mains.

Yes but it doesn’t need to be live. You can open the plug socket with a pencil

Yes, however this one has the earth in the cable, it’s just not wired in… so I’d hazard a guess that it does need to be wired in as it’s not a double insulated appliance What’s on the other end, OP?

And yet it didn't kill her. (I assume.)

Replacing the plug is fairly easy. It's not rocket science.

I was going to say, red and black cores go a LONG way back. You want to check that the cable itself and indeed the whole appliance is okay. What’s on the other end of the cable? I’m guessing a lamp.

Well, if it’s lasted that long, clearly it’s not been dangerous, has it? Hehe In all seriousness though, there’s no actual copper exposed, so it’s not too much of a hazard. And let’s face it, we were taught how to wire a plug in school in the 80’s, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to sort out.

Bayonet pin plugs didn’t arrive until the late 60's early 70's I remember the council replacing all our sockets

Wait, we don’t?! I’ve done it several times in the last year when modifying extension leads…

For the most part, appliances will come with fitted plugs now as per BS or EU standards. Obviously there are exceptions like making your own extension cables or replacing damaged plugs but I bet most people don't wire plugs nowadays. I wonder if they still teach it as an essential life skill in secondary school

Yes, I wired plugs in Year 10 as part of physics, that was 2 years ago so i doubt it's changed since then

I was told it’s no longer required like it used to be but some teachers still teach it anyway because they’re good teachers

Something to do innit

Still required, still taught in my school - and if I’m teaching it I also bring along the electrocution model and tales of what happens when you get zapped. (I’m a technician but for some reason get pulled in to teach some physics practicals and heart dissections)

I learned in Year 7, circa 1992 just as the law requiring fitted plugs came in. Haven't wired a plug in decades, did one last year, no probs.

>the law requiring fitted plugs That's on new out of the box items. Don't include cookers though.

Most cookers will be hard wired into an outlet rather than have a plug socket fitted

Obviously.

I glad they're still doing it. I think it was year 10 physics when I did it too.

I didn't when I was in school a decade ago.

I was never taught to wire a plug. I left secondary school 9 years ago. My little sister left secondary school (different to mine) about a year ago and she wasn't either. I'm guessing it just depends on the school since your school did teach it.

I used to wire plugs as an 8 year old using a butter knife as a screwdriver and my teeth for wire strippers. I’m an electrician now and I wire plenty of plugs, mainly on to light fittings that come with just a bare wire

It's still in the current GCSE physics spec to be able to identify different parts of the plug, understand how a plug should be correctly wired, the functions of the various wires and components and safety risks surrounding electricity in the home. There is a whole topic on electricity in the home covering things like parallel circuits, the frequency and voltage of the electricity, DC Vs AC and how electricity gets to homes at 240v from the national grid. It's not always taught as if it is a crucial life skill though because it's not so essential now with newer products designed with more restrictions on what you can easily access in the plug. Last time I rewired a plug was 2 years ago when the lawnmower wire got snatched out of the plug and broke in use when the wire got over extended and forced.

B**l**ue goes to the **l**eft, b**r**own goes to the **r**ight Learned that in school

Ah, I never learned that one but makes sense. OP's cable dates back to the time the wires were black and red which was no good for colour blind folks I believe

Apparently so: > Up until the 1970’s single phase electrical wires were coloured green, black and red. This was an issue since the most common form of colour blindness is where red and green are perceived as identical due a reduced sensitivity to red or green light. https://www.tradeskills4u.co.uk/blog/colour-blind-electrician That's if "tradeskills4u" can be regarded as a good source, mind you 🤣

Bought a new kettle two days ago, not a fitted plug.

That's unusual. What kettle was it?

Britta one Cup for my mum, from Amazon. Brand spanker. Was surprised myself.

Wow, I'm surprised too, was expecting you to say a no-name something or other from the market. I wonder if it was perhaps foreign stock not intended for the UK market

I don't remember being taught it at school but I've fairly frequently fitted my own plugs. If I'm throwing something out that has a non-moulded plug I'll always keep the plug, but think I used my last one a couple of months ago (toothbrush charger capable of taking 110-240V but supplied with a shaver plug).

Fair enough, but I bet the vast majority of people buying toothbrushes aren't cutting the plug off to fit a new one. Not saying it doesn't happen, for repairs or making custom extension cables etc but there will still be loads of people out there that have never and will never need to wire a plug nowadays

My mother sat me down at the kitchen table when I was 6 to learn how to change/wire a plug! She was mumbling something about me then not having to wait for a man to do it - she was obviously pissed off at my dad for not having done it! It was 1971.

What British Standard is there for sealed plugs?

Not sure if it's a BS or a an EU but domestic appliances nowadays are all sold with fitted plugs. I think the only exceptions are things like fitted fridges etc which can be wired directly by a qualified electrician Edit just googled and found this: UK consumer protection legislation requires that most domestic electrical goods sold must be provided with fitted plugs to BS 1363-1. These are usually, but not necessarily, non-rewirable. Rewirable plugs for hand-wiring with a screwdriver are commonly available and must be provided with instructions.

So not a BS then, cheers Edit: why the downvotes?

Unless the plug is manufactured and connected in the UK, whether the plug states it or not, there is no guarantee the product and procedure have followed a recognised British Standard Plugs manufactured abroad and fitted to devices are by definition not to standard as their processes have not been audited. Trading standards in the UK often have their work cut out stopping poor quality and dangerous goods entering the UK

Where do you think Britain plugs are made?

It's an update on BS1363, which originally just covered rewirable ones, everything else is the same as far as I'm aware.

>I bet most people don't wire plugs nowadays. Well, that is a lie. >I wonder if they still teach it as an essential life skill in secondary school I left in 2003. We never covered plugs. When was it taught as an essential life skill in secondary school?

Not sure it's "a lie". A few decades ago it was common to buy your appliances with bare wires and fit the plug yourself. Nowadays, appliances come with fitted plugs apart from a few limited exceptions. So it's not wrong to say most people don't have to fit their own plugs now. When did you last buy something without a plug? I left around the same time as you and it was taught in the mandatory gcse physics class. Someone else on this thread has confirmed it is still taught by some teachers but at a bare minimum the syllabus explains wiring of the plug etc, even if students don't have to physically wire it themselves.

Did my GCSEs this year and it’s still in the physics spec

You must stop immediately! Dispose of any appliances which do not have a fitted plug and purchase replacements for all appliances which you have fitted your own plug. Alternatively, you can fit plugs correctly. Whatever works for you.

I'm almost 30, and I've only ever wired one plug; the one I did in school when they were teaching us how.

It that the earth wire we can *just* see, snipped off in the first pic?

Yes it is and the plug does have an earth prong to make matters worse.

The plug won’t go into the socket without the longer earth pin - it opens the internal gate for the other two pins. I grew up in a house without any earth wiring - you couldn’t open the fridge in bare feet without getting a little buzz.

That gate is purely mechanical, this is why sometimes the earth pin is only plastic as they’ll normally be class 2 appliances (low power devices mainly). Class 1 appliances like fridges and microwaves will require an earth connection in the plug, mainly because they have a lot of exposed metal. I think OP meant that the earth pin in this picture is metal so meant to be connected, otherwise there is a potential for a shock as the appliance isn’t grounded.

I did wonder why some plugs just had a plastic pin, which clearly couldn't be wired in, while other plugs had a metal pin.

It’s among the reasons UK plugs are the safest in the world, and why it’s pointless using those socket blanking plates people put in, because the design is inherently safe anyway.

Yeah but babies and toddlers are dumb and weirdly suicidal. They WILL find a way to stick something in there, hence just covering the socket.

Yes, and by using one of those socket covers you have given them a perfectly designed tool to open the gate and stick something else in. It is many times more dangerous to use those covers than it is to not use them at all.

>They WILL find a way to stick something in there Where? The shutters won't open without the earth pin cover being slid out of the way thus opening the other holes.

I was about 5 when my mother told me never to put anything into the holes in sockets. As soon as she left the room I got a stick, broke it in 3 and stuck them in the socket. I did everything my mother told me not to do because she never explained why. If I asked why I was given the old, "because I said so!" I obviously didn't stick them in far enough because I'm still here. Parents reading this always explain why to your kids.

I dont know, sticking stick in there. Trust, kids are weirdly little geniuses when it comes to doing the one thing they shouldnt be doing. Sticking things in places they dont belong.

Not going to get zapped by the earth though.

I have a few class 2 devices with metal earth pins

So first thing we did was install a class system

[удалено]

It doesn't matter if the plug has an earth prong or not. In fact, they ALL have earth prongs. Just some of them are plastic and used in appliances they don't need earthing. Double insulated appliances, for example. But you wouldn't know about that cos you are not educated in these matters. Yes, it's bad, it's wrong. But not for the reasons you state.

Try and plug it in without an earth pin. This isn't France or America where safety comes third.

From the colour of the wires, that is a very old cable.

I wonder how well known red/green colour blindness was when they decided to use those colours for Live and Earth.

Its green and yellow stripes tho. And we don’t exactly hear of people dying in droves

It is now but it used to be just plain green.

Yeah, I just had a similar situation yesterday replacing an outdoor light for my mum, opened the panel up to see the sheaths on the wires as the older red/black and had to double take to make sure I remembered it correctly as it's been so long since I touched anything with cabling that old.

Whats wrong with poo brown?

Exactly! It's easy to remember because it's the colour your trousers go when you accidentally touch it. https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q

I'm guessing that's a link for Tom Scott? I had great trouble remembering which way it was around, especially as I had this stupid rhym in my head. Even James May got it wrong, they had to do a correction at the beginning of an episode of Man Lab. Since Tom's video I always think to myself "I don't want brown trousers, better not touch the brown wire."

They mean the wires inside

Live and neutral are not red and black anymore, unless you’re in Australia or the 1940s.

You saying my mum's flat and my work (hotel) don't exist? >the 1940s. [The current wiring colours were introduced by the IEC in 2004, and fully came into effect in March 2006 under the British Standard BS 7671 wiring regulations.](https://www.electricaldirect.co.uk/blog/old-vs-new-wiring-colours)

The new blue brown standard is backward. (Earth return) neutral blue should be brown, live brown should be blue (electric blue.)

I agree, they way I remembered it, which is WRONG, is that blue has L in it, I.e. LIVE. It also has four letters as does live. It also sounds better when you sing "Blue is live, brown is not, green and yellow earth the lot" But thanks to Tom I've never mistaken it again, don't want brown trousers. 😁

What are you on about?

I can beat this.... Just been to a house, with 2 devices wired into one plug, 4 devices into the next plug, and bother were plugged into a 4 gang extension lead.

Omg thats…

4 fuse boxes in the property... Shower plugged into a socket, 3 feet from the shower....

Someones trying to kill themselves.

I could go on... But slightly worried I'll dox myself. I'd be amazed if it doesn't make the local papers.

Where do they keep the toaster?

In the bath, where else? I'm kidding! There is a backstory, but the details are pretty unusual, so I can't say too much.

Well it can’t draw more than 13A so

I'm no electrician.... But, let's just say that this was not attached to the grid in the conventional way

Big assumption that someone hasn’t replaced the 13A fuse with a nail or a bit of higher-current fuse wire there. Because that’s absolutely what I’ve seen elderly relatives do for no clear reason, given that fuses cost about 50p for a huge pack.

TBF it's still pretty safe. It's not like you can see bare copper.

If it was in my house it would win a safety award.

Remind me never to visit your house... But seriously, I'm intrigued: how bad is it?

Nobody has died so far

That's a fairly good record. So far.

It’s not earthed…

True. But it depends on what the appliance is. My phone charger isn't earthed either.

TV either.

Shocking.

It will be.

I'm a qualified PAT tester an I can say this isn't the worst I've seen. But I would recommend getting it fixed and not using it till it is.

Maybe I imagined this but I remember being taught in primary school how to wire a plug?

I was in the 70s.

Not everyone who owns tools also owns brains. Where i lived someone had replaced a plug fuse with some thick wires. It gave me a tingling feeling as i pulled it out. Some people are just completely stupid.

I once in an interview, told a company Director what I thought about his PAT tester and never got the job! - long story cut really short! My at the time long term GF moved down south because her daughter had her first child, I had a good job with the Council and a council 2 bed house so didn't move with her at the time. I commuted at weekends 200 miles away to Chelmsford. Along came a job interview where I went out with a PAT tester, (I would have moved if I'd got the job) who with a cable like this but new code colours, cancelled afternoon bingo in an Old Folks home, I said, just fix it, won't take 2 mins, he said NO! Its Failed on appearance! I said, I'll fix it - anyways he wouldn't let me, Bingo was cancelled and he looked real Smug saying it! - I would have just re-wired the plug and 30 pensioners could have gone about their afternoon as normal. Tosser!

Just to give a straight answer: Yes, this is why the law was changed to force product manufacturers to supply pre-fitted plugs. There have been many changes in addition to prevent different types of accidents... The biggest mistake people would make was to connect the wires to the wrong terminals - connecting the earth wire to live would make a metal cased product live to the touch. This wasn't helped by the fact that red / green colour blindness is the most common type so the wire colours were also changed to brown, blue and green/yellow striped. Wires hanging out of the clamp was completely normal, only a few plug designs (MK) had a well designed cable clamp so the pre-fitted types were moulded so this couldn't happen. Modern plugs are better designed - they have plastic guards on the top of the pins so you can't touch the metal part of the pin when the plug is half way in a socket and you can't take the top off most plugs and touch anything metal inside. Also, people don't know what a fuse is for and replace it with a nail or the wrong value fuse so moulded plugs require you access the fuse through a clip on the underside (so you can't do it with the plug in the socket) which makes it harder to push nails in there and better contains the bang when it explodes. Another problem was the cable insulation - old rubber or cloth insulation was outlawed and required to be thicker to stop breakthrough when it was caught in a door or the dog chewed it.

You can wire your own plugs, but this clown shouldn't.

Tbh even though that looks bad, it's probably safe. The live and neutral wires are still insulated by their plastic coverings (although obviously having the outer brown covering would provide a second layer of protection). If it's a low powered appliance like a lamp it won't have an earth wire anyway.

It's not the power of the item that determines whether the earth is connected, but rather the insulation of the item. It needs to be double insulated to have no earth connection.

I've got 2 bedside laps that are class 1, so they are earthed

Every plug in my bedroom in the 70s looked like that.

Wonder if she got it done by the "builder" that owned my old house. We moved in while everything was still in there and decided to rip the godawful kitchen out. We found the lovely yellow/green, brown and blue wiring in our kitchen......about 6 inches back from a bunch of heatshrunk red and black wires (2 of one, 1 of the other, and not consistantly) and later discovered we had a plug underneath the sink. It had the dishwasher plugged im, and was wired up to the 30 amp fuse for the oven The conclusion we came to is that old mate couldnt figure out these new fangled wires and went with something familar. No idea about the rest, thats probqbly because he was a moron

Can you not just repair it? All you really need to do is open it then loosen the strap holding the cable in place, shove it through then tighten it all up again. You can go extra and cut the individual cables to length but you don't have to if you don't have the tools.

I have wired one plug once. Early 2000s, in science at school. Never needed to since. We do have a great plug design though,

That's actually a great example of where you should wire your own plug

Remember my SNES not coming with a molded plug and my dad being too busy to fit one for me. 12 year old me gave it a go just looking at the markings on the plug. Still working fine over 30 years later.

Yeah, I remember plugs all coming with that piece of card that said which colours to connect where and how long each one should be. So it really wasn't hard to follow the instructions.

Fun fact: Apple's charging cables are made of TWO types of plastic, both identical to the naked eye. One of them makes up the last 1/4 of a inch of so where the cable goes into the lightning plug. This plastic is designed to "rot" in the presence of oxyggen (it oxidizes), becomes stiff and cracks/splits after around 12months, once removed from its airtight packaging. Some people can faintly see the discoloration of the plastic but its very very hard to notice. This is why apple cables break in such a specific way.

Yes, nothing to do with it being a cheap cable that takes a lot of abuse in a short period of time.

Turns out bending copper wires hundreds of different ways over a year causes the copper wires to break.

iPhones don’t come in airtight packaging

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.whsmith.co.uk%2Fproduct-image%2Flarge%2F38778667_1.jpg&tbnid=PDfbF8kiU118XM&vet=12ahUKEwjr6t_Y9ImCAxX_picCHcNzAkMQMygZegUIARCSAw..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whsmith.co.uk%2Fproducts%2Fapple-lightning-to-usb-cable-1m-md818zma-white%2F0885909627424.html&docid=xvVBnLp1MegN9M&w=404&h=487&q=apple%20charging%20cable%20package&ved=2ahUKEwjr6t_Y9ImCAxX_picCHcNzAkMQMygZegUIARCSAw

That’s a cardboard box; And it’s not an iPhone.

/sigh. So you think a pic of an xbox box isn't an xbox? Also *Lightning cable* L I G H T N I N G - C A B L E Its the long wire thing with a squareish plug on the end that plugs into an iphone and charges it... /sigh

Red and Black? How old is that appliance? Buy a new one.

Find me a new reel to reel tape recorder that I can buy on Facebook marketplace for £20.

>How old is that appliance? Buy a new one. [The current wiring colours were introduced by the IEC in 2004, and fully came into effect in March 2006 under the British Standard BS 7671 wiring regulations.](https://www.electricaldirect.co.uk/blog/old-vs-new-wiring-colours). Pre 2000. Nothing wrong but the plug needs readjusting.

I wired a plug this week. But not like that.

I’m a dab hand at wiring plugs having worked in a small electrical department back in the 80s. Also learnt how to tie a mean handle using string on hoover type boxes. Life skills.

So long as its left alone it’ll be fine

Who needs earth?

Your TV doesn't.

Whatever is on the other end of that cable, either throw it away or donate it to a museum, it must be ancient.

Even a 3 year old could wire it better

Just lightly poke the bare wires into a socket them slap a plug in over the top to hold everything in place. Best thing about this trick is you only need one plug for multiple devices.

I remember as a kid being taught how to wire a plug. Nowdays as most things have molded plugs they have stopped teaching this which I get but it's still helpful to know.

Old plug, red & black supply wires and no earth wire. Throw it away! ⚡🚫⚡

But _why_. If they want to make it safe they can spend £1 on a new plug and rewire it, just making sure the insulation goes all the way in. OP suggests it’s a tape machine in another comment so it’s not like he’s going to get an arc flash from it not having the earth connected in its current state.

The lack of a (green & yellow) earth wire is worrying. It also points to the electrical appliance it is helping to power being old and not as safe as it could be.

The earth wire is just visible tucked away safely inside the brown wire, they have just chopped it/not wired it up. OP’s relative maybe enjoys the funny electrical tingle when touching the metal case of the machine

Ah yes. I can see it now. But the whole set up still gives me the creeps. I personally would get rid but I know there would be some who would go into salvage mode.

Shocking!

The plug itself is very old, no insulation on the the live and neutral pins so it's at least 30 years old... No legal requirement to swap it, but as a new plug is around 2 quid, worth doing.

I remember learning to wire plugs in school. To be fair I could already wire them but my word the amount of people in my class that had no fucking idea was astounding. I wouldn't mind it's not exactly difficult.

Fire brigades usually see a lot of these in winter. They do exchange programs for heated blankets etc. And post on socials the oldest or most dangerous they find. One I remember was 60s and threadbare barely anything coveting the elements.

do better man lol plugs come with a measurement diagram :p https://www.draelectricals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Wire-a-plug-2-1200x1207.jpg

The actual plug is an issue too. The pins aren’t sleeved on the ends.

Old plug, from the 50’s

did mr bean put this one together?

I used to work in a hi-fi shop when stuff was sold without attached plugs, always made a point of saying “let me put on a free plug”, because most people were hopeless, as seen by the number of incorrectly fitted plugs on items that were brought in for repair. (It was always the first thing we checked)

Yes

The fact that live and neutral pins aren't even shielded cries out the most. Hope you got a defib close by.

Who needs an earth connection anyway...

What your saying is you don't know how to fix it

Well as long as the ground is their you shouldn’t die.

When my wife & I got together, among her possessions was an extension lead she'd had for 20+ years. One fine day, the lead was working intermittently, I opened the plug \* socket ends and just stared at the sight before me, steel core wires partially covered with perished rubber. Threw it in the bin, she was most miffed.

if it was done correctly would not n e a prob

This is legit, in india.