How can I organize this mess?
July 25, 2015 5:31 PM Subscribe
I had to re-wire the power cord on my anova immersion cooker, and while it now works perfectly, the wires are exposed. Any suggestions on an easy way to wrap or otherwise contain the wires in a preferably waterproof way? Plus, is what I did to this thing ok, or is it going to burn down my apartment? Pic and details after the break.
Here's a pic of the result. Here's basically what I did:
The power cord socket had a loose connection, and after trying to fix it by re-soldering the connections it just kept heating up at the connection between the red power line from the machine to the socket. It was working fine but getting really hot and melting power cords... so I decided to just get rid of the socket altogether and join the wires to a power cord with end to end crimping things that are supposedly waterproof after you heat shrink them, and add that little fuse thingie because there was a fuse in the original socket assembly. (Can you tell that electrical stuff is not one of my primary areas of expertise...?)
So the mess you see in the pic is what it looks like now, and I'm using it like that and it's working really well. The only issue is that when it's heating the water, the cord gets a little warm, and I think I should maybe have gotten a cord with bigger gauge wires in it, because the fuse is a 15 amp fuse, which I gather is pretty high for this kind of thing.
My main question is how can I plug that rectangular hole and wrap the wires so that water can't get into the cooker, and, less importantly, so it looks decent.
Here's a pic of the result. Here's basically what I did:
The power cord socket had a loose connection, and after trying to fix it by re-soldering the connections it just kept heating up at the connection between the red power line from the machine to the socket. It was working fine but getting really hot and melting power cords... so I decided to just get rid of the socket altogether and join the wires to a power cord with end to end crimping things that are supposedly waterproof after you heat shrink them, and add that little fuse thingie because there was a fuse in the original socket assembly. (Can you tell that electrical stuff is not one of my primary areas of expertise...?)
So the mess you see in the pic is what it looks like now, and I'm using it like that and it's working really well. The only issue is that when it's heating the water, the cord gets a little warm, and I think I should maybe have gotten a cord with bigger gauge wires in it, because the fuse is a 15 amp fuse, which I gather is pretty high for this kind of thing.
My main question is how can I plug that rectangular hole and wrap the wires so that water can't get into the cooker, and, less importantly, so it looks decent.
Best answer: TBH, I don't really understand exactly what's going on in the picture, and don't know how hot the various bits of an immersion cooker get.
Sugru is useful stuff, could maybe work as a DIY grommet around a cut down piece of 1/8" styrene.
Styrene is soft enough that it works easily with a sharp knife, sandpaper, or a rough file. You could do a rubbing of the hole without the wires (except they're semi-permanent now, right?) to get a rough shape, transfer that to the plastic, cut and trim to fit. A bead of sugru around it might make a decent seal and keep it on, but I'd personally just use some carefully applied black gaffers tape, or just glue it in.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 9:31 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sugru is useful stuff, could maybe work as a DIY grommet around a cut down piece of 1/8" styrene.
Styrene is soft enough that it works easily with a sharp knife, sandpaper, or a rough file. You could do a rubbing of the hole without the wires (except they're semi-permanent now, right?) to get a rough shape, transfer that to the plastic, cut and trim to fit. A bead of sugru around it might make a decent seal and keep it on, but I'd personally just use some carefully applied black gaffers tape, or just glue it in.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 9:31 PM on July 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think you have a disaster waiting to happen. You need to get a new cord installed professionally, or a new cooker.With too small of wires, too high over current protection, and the warming you speak of, the situation is simply not safe. As an electrician, I cringed at that photo.
posted by scottymac at 10:56 PM on July 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by scottymac at 10:56 PM on July 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
This appalling botch-job is going to kill you.
Do not plug it in. Seriously.
If it is plugged in now, unplug it.
Either call an electrician - who will probably not want to fix it anyway - or buy a new one.
You are at serious risk of killing yourself or someone else. Really.
Either it will catch fire and you will die, or the {deep breaths here] TOTALLTY EXPOSED LIVE WIRES will electrocute you to death.
How much clearer do we need to be? This is totally capable of killing you at any time.
Unplug it. Now. Please.
posted by Combat Wombat at 12:31 AM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
Do not plug it in. Seriously.
If it is plugged in now, unplug it.
Either call an electrician - who will probably not want to fix it anyway - or buy a new one.
You are at serious risk of killing yourself or someone else. Really.
Either it will catch fire and you will die, or the {deep breaths here] TOTALLTY EXPOSED LIVE WIRES will electrocute you to death.
How much clearer do we need to be? This is totally capable of killing you at any time.
Unplug it. Now. Please.
posted by Combat Wombat at 12:31 AM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
Ok so like, my entire house is full of stupid hacks. Half of my desktop is held together with zip ties. It rattles at certain speeds of certain fans. My entire car was a long, wide pile of heat shrink, zip ties, electrical tape and random soldered shit(and various leaky hoses and tanks). I'm about to drill a new handle in to my microwave. I've jimmy rigged everything from stoves to electronics and engines.
NO. OH MY GOD NO STOP.
I'm more freaked out by this than when I opened my hood and gas was spraying out on to the exhaust manifold.
Please trash this entire thing and buy a new one. This stuff, like deep fryer magnetic cables and a few other things, are on the list of stuff I will not try and fix like this. And I have no qualms about soldering in desktop power supplies, tvs, tube amps, etc.
I can't see a safe way to repair this sort of thing, having broken them. I've rewired a lot of appliances. Please, just, no.
Even just looking at the photo it looks like you could get those wires close enough to ark just by jostling the thing. And that's AFTER all the other horrible scenarios I thought of first.
If a guy who has had a tesla coil fight, light saber battles with high power lasers, used neon sign transformers as pranks(and throwing charged caps), and caught on fire more than once tells you it's a bad idea it's probably a shit idea.
Please don't get the fire department called on yourself. They didn't think it was very funny last time me and my idiot friend went "what's the worst that can happen" and it turned in to "how can we even put this out?", or "wow that's REALLY on fire now... Fuck, do we have time to get anything that can really hit that?"
If you wanna run it behind its own fuse on a huge concrete patio with a remote switch then... I guess? But why? It doesn't even blow anything up!
My rule is if I'm going to do something this dumb precautions have to be taken and it has to do something ridiculous or cool intentionally or when it fails, or at least have a purpose. This is just pointless and unsafe. It's mad science without any of the fun OR science.
I am an idiot, I am not your idiot, this is not moron advice. If you want to do stupid things, please learn a lot about how the thing you want to do cool/stupid things with works and what can go wrong. Ideally, find someone who has already done it AND knows those things or has professional knowledge or real experience in that field.
And seriously, if you buy a microwave and it only runs with the door OPEN just return it. Nothing good will come of seeing what happens to stuff you put inside it in your driveway. People have done that on YouTube anyways.
posted by emptythought at 1:26 AM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
NO. OH MY GOD NO STOP.
I'm more freaked out by this than when I opened my hood and gas was spraying out on to the exhaust manifold.
Please trash this entire thing and buy a new one. This stuff, like deep fryer magnetic cables and a few other things, are on the list of stuff I will not try and fix like this. And I have no qualms about soldering in desktop power supplies, tvs, tube amps, etc.
I can't see a safe way to repair this sort of thing, having broken them. I've rewired a lot of appliances. Please, just, no.
Even just looking at the photo it looks like you could get those wires close enough to ark just by jostling the thing. And that's AFTER all the other horrible scenarios I thought of first.
If a guy who has had a tesla coil fight, light saber battles with high power lasers, used neon sign transformers as pranks(and throwing charged caps), and caught on fire more than once tells you it's a bad idea it's probably a shit idea.
Please don't get the fire department called on yourself. They didn't think it was very funny last time me and my idiot friend went "what's the worst that can happen" and it turned in to "how can we even put this out?", or "wow that's REALLY on fire now... Fuck, do we have time to get anything that can really hit that?"
If you wanna run it behind its own fuse on a huge concrete patio with a remote switch then... I guess? But why? It doesn't even blow anything up!
My rule is if I'm going to do something this dumb precautions have to be taken and it has to do something ridiculous or cool intentionally or when it fails, or at least have a purpose. This is just pointless and unsafe. It's mad science without any of the fun OR science.
I am an idiot, I am not your idiot, this is not moron advice. If you want to do stupid things, please learn a lot about how the thing you want to do cool/stupid things with works and what can go wrong. Ideally, find someone who has already done it AND knows those things or has professional knowledge or real experience in that field.
And seriously, if you buy a microwave and it only runs with the door OPEN just return it. Nothing good will come of seeing what happens to stuff you put inside it in your driveway. People have done that on YouTube anyways.
posted by emptythought at 1:26 AM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
Oh my God, silicone tape is not the best answer here. Please, please do not use this. Unplug it and leave it alone. You are dealing with large amounts of electricity over exposed wires that can't handle the current you're trying to pass through them. It is not "working really well," it is presenting a serious hazard to you.
posted by teponaztli at 2:04 AM on July 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by teponaztli at 2:04 AM on July 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Those mastic-producing splices look pretty good. I've used them before in aggressive environments (submerged well pumps), and they do a good job of keeping the electricity inside.
Your first problem here is that you have no strain relief (if someone trips on a wires, the internals of the device must tolerate the physical strain, rather than the strain relief that was integral to the case, or integral to the cord). This means that the wires could pull out, and then you have a plugged in power cord with live wires flopping around. This is a bad thing, and the hardest to fix.
While you can avoid the problem with bureaucratic solutions ("we'll never put this where anyone can trip on it, or where my friend's baby can get at it"), bureaucratic solutions are not allowed with electrical appliances. It has to be safe anywhere it can be used.
The second problem is that the wires are exposed (not the conductors, but the insulation on the wires). Conventionally, you always bundle the wires into a jacket, which is another layer of protection. This is always done, even when the wires are not in exposed spaces (like Romex).
While you could do a passable job of completely wrapping the exposed wires in PVC tape, or that self-sealing silicone stuff, you will not have something that the Underwriters Laboratory approved of, and if you burn down your house, the insurance won't pay.
Same with the strain relief: even if you come up with something that works, UL didn't approve it, and if there is an electrical mishap, your insurance might not pay if someone gets killed.
Safest is to buy a new one.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:00 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Your first problem here is that you have no strain relief (if someone trips on a wires, the internals of the device must tolerate the physical strain, rather than the strain relief that was integral to the case, or integral to the cord). This means that the wires could pull out, and then you have a plugged in power cord with live wires flopping around. This is a bad thing, and the hardest to fix.
While you can avoid the problem with bureaucratic solutions ("we'll never put this where anyone can trip on it, or where my friend's baby can get at it"), bureaucratic solutions are not allowed with electrical appliances. It has to be safe anywhere it can be used.
The second problem is that the wires are exposed (not the conductors, but the insulation on the wires). Conventionally, you always bundle the wires into a jacket, which is another layer of protection. This is always done, even when the wires are not in exposed spaces (like Romex).
While you could do a passable job of completely wrapping the exposed wires in PVC tape, or that self-sealing silicone stuff, you will not have something that the Underwriters Laboratory approved of, and if you burn down your house, the insurance won't pay.
Same with the strain relief: even if you come up with something that works, UL didn't approve it, and if there is an electrical mishap, your insurance might not pay if someone gets killed.
Safest is to buy a new one.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:00 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
As a follow up, I dropped back into look at this question again. Seeing which answers you have marked as best, there is not much else to add other than if you are bound and determined to meet your local firefighters, may I suggest you take maybe some cakes or pies or cookies down to the station house, and visit with them. And for Christ's sake, go to the store and BUY them if you have anything else in your kitchen that looks remotely like this.
posted by scottymac at 3:32 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by scottymac at 3:32 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm also here to say that looks like an appallingly dangerous bodge job.
Please uplug it and don't use it.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 9:19 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Please uplug it and don't use it.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 9:19 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
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