Can you wire your own plug?

by precise. Posted in Domestic

Although you can purchase new plugs at hardware stores in Australia, it’s against the law to rewire your own plugs unless you’re licensed to do so. While it seems like an easy task, it’s illegal and could result in you losing your home insurance cover, thus proving to be a very expensive mistake. There are many different type of plugs to choose from. How do you know which one is right for the application you are going to use it in? Do you need a 15A plug or a 10A plug. We have seen many instances where a 15A plug has been modified to fit a 10A socket. This is a highly dangerous practice and could easily result in overloading the socket to which it is plugged into causing a fire.

So what happens if you wire the plug the wrong way round? In other words you swap the active and neutral wires. In an AC system you wouldn’t notice. The item would still function. The issue comes when there is a fault on the unit and the fuse is now in the neutral not the active. Again this is highly dangerous for technicians when working on faulty appliances and they think it is dead when the fuse is removed. But in reality it is live all the way through the circuitry to the fuse.

The simplest answer is to always ensure your electrical wiring is carried out by a licenced electrical contractor or an electrician employed by an electrical contractor. A search can be carried out at this web site for free. http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/energysafety/licensing-search