About the house: Francis Brennan on how to change a plug the correct way

His new book The Homekeeper’s Diary is full of tips and tricks to looking after your home, and we've got the inside track.

Tue, 06 Oct, 2020 - 11:38

Unscrew the centre screw on your plug with a Phillips-head screwdriver.
Now loosen the two screws at the bottom – the ones that hold the cable in place.
Remove the little clamp.
Check carefully which wires go into which terminal – before you loosen each terminal using a flat-head screwdriver. Green and yellow – earth; brown – live; blue – neutral. Remove the wires.
Prepare the new plug by opening it in the same way as you did the old one.
Prepare the wires for the new plug. You might need to strip some of the casing off the wires using pliers, but don’t cut into the wires themselves. Arrange the wires in the correct positions for each terminal.
Snip a tiny bit off the wires so that you see the copper, which you then twist before placing in each terminal. Again, make sure the correct wire is in the correct terminal!
Screw the terminals down onto the copper wire, then press the flex into the relevant slot – the flex, not the wires – before tightening the clamp, screwing it over the flex, then snapping both sides of the plug together and tightening the external screw.