zoothorn

Hi Onoff, this tip which IIRC you told me of when renovating my kitchen a few years back, has worked great/ did for my 98yr old friend's kitchen undersink area too. But.. doesn't work for areas you simply cannot reach/ access tho. Which is the issue here with my Ma's kitchen cable chewing problem. Hence only option is to clad the cable in something you see. The two grey cables in the very same area, they haven't chewed, one being std dishwasher grey cable & t'other a solid core )flat grey internal wiring) type cable, both not clad in anything. Must be a reason. Thanks

Absolutely- I tried my best to trace where the sink & dishwasher pipes exit, but strangely nothing obvious outside though. Yup need to put traps. They seemed to leave the other cables (grey slightly thicker dishwasher one, & a solidcore grey flat one) both under there too.. & just went all guns on the one fridge grey cable. Thanks, Zoot

Well well, I've never heard of such a product before- considering I can't find the exit point outside, for the sink & dishwasher waste pipes, nor can get access inside to where they go out.. this seems sensible. Or easier perhsps: some 20mm black flexible ribbed conduit to sheath the cable in: hoping I might stumble across something suitable in due course tbh. This episode does make me paranoid about car electric cables tho. Surely a car has ideal nooks & crannies for mice. Saying that I haven't eve4 had an issue with any car before tbh. Thanks Onoff. Zh

Hi Roundtuit, thanks for reply. Yup absolutely- but.. when I took out replacement fridge today, I looked underneath & saw the dishwasher & sink waste pipes dissapear way off twds RHS twds corner of other worktop cupboards. Simply no way (without all worktops & cabinets removed that is) I could get to the wall corner, to sure up around pipes with steel mesh. Anyway, my method of chopping all but 6" of Mum's fridge cable off, & adding a plug on, seems to have paid off. This meant I could separate the white extension cable from it, pass the female end of this thru sink cabinet back hole, then with a coathanger stretched out & a hook on the end.. looked underneath, & really rather brilliantly, fished/ hooked the socket out twds me, & mated it to fridge plug. Doddle then to put fridge back. Also then a doddle to undo out again, & add some flexi ribbed 20mm black conduit to sheath the white extension cable, which even I thought looked appetising to gnaw on. When I can stumble on such pipey numnums that is. Mum pleased. I thank you. Zoot.

Hi- yup if this was a build project/ simple/ Id put sockets L side of sink cupboard like you. But this is my mother's house 100m away, i do not have tools with me (she only told me her fridge packed up a day before.. once i got here!!! Argh! She's 87..). Plus she'd not agree to cutting new holes. Plus a massive faff & dirty too, even if it's the ideal way. All I need do, is do whatever the chap who fitted the replacement fridge did 2 days ago. I just cannot establish what he did it. Simply how he got the plug, onto the socket. Thanks, Zoot

Hi Rick, just bought your choccy box connector.. got it home & hasn't got the lug terminals inside I was expecting! D'oh! That was daft not to look inside it (Id assumed two sets of terminals you see in the middle, that are joined, & all you need do is attach cable A to oneside, & cable B to opposite side). I have absolutely no idea how to connect two bare cables together safely & securely, inside this empty white box. Nor could I get any kind of mouse resistant anything , shroud or flexible conduit, to put over my replacement cable. Which is just a standard 1m white extension cable mains plug one end, female socket the other. So. I'm back with my my approach as per photo above (with white cable attached). Assuming this is safe enough/ & I cannot see any reason why not.. I can then attatch the white cable's socket end to a coat hanger (as I still have no idea how Im meant to get a string or anything, thru the sink cabinet hole, & 60cm Leftwards, to where I can go into the fridge recess.. to grab it). Then undo it from coathanger, & pull coathanger back. If Im yet --still-- being thick/ missing summat.. could someone please holler!! Many thanks. Zoot

Hi Onoff, no Im not messing.. & I expected this response tbh. I still don't get it. How do I feed the string through from the RHS hole (twds the R, lower centre, of the adjacent 'plug socket' sink cabinet)... to get it out at the back of the LH cabinet? Some kind of extra long coathanger type rigid wire?? Thanks Zoot

How would the fridge cable here, have been manipulated, in order to insert the plug on it's end, into the adjacent (sink cabinet) socket?? Im tearing my hair out trying to figure out how whoever did this (or indeed any under-the-worktop type appliance, a dishwasher, washing machine/ anything) got it's plug, into the socket. You can see the BLACK plug in the double socket, on the RHS midway above the open door..

Ah yes a connector box like that would seem a better idea. I can buy one tmrw to replace the plug & socket. A few things remain though: could anyone ID some form of 'mouseproof' cable from either screwfix or toolstation? Im getting hundreds of results with the screwfix App thing that's been forced on me to use: I cannot abide it as it seems to calculate hundreds of unrelated items.. then Im sifting for a needle in a haystack. Lastly, forgive my idiocy here.. but it just occured to me how I get the cable fed through, at the cabinet rear. ?? IE say I have my 3ft x H 5ft kitchen cabinet 'hole' to slide my fridge into with the cable now replaced. Once it's slid in.. I obviously have no possible access to get to the plug/ cable behind it, to then pass plug behind & Rightwards into the back of the adjacent sink cabinet (same board back general hole where the sink pipes go out).. where the plug socket is. Thanks. Zoot

Rick, can I assume you meant this (kinda blindingly obvious to me now!) way with your plug/joint idea? (Edit: photo added below). [If so then once again, I self-nominate for the BH Big Thicko Cup.. '26]. Is there any safety compromises doing this way? I only ask as it's my Mum's fridge/ not mine. If all ok, I'll try buy a better 'mouseproof' cable tmrw & redo the female plug socket onto it. Thanks Zoot

Hi there Rick. Good idea, bit I really want to replace cable for a mouseproof one.. afaik this didn't cause the kitchen spur or any, to trip the fuse. And I can't access behind the cabinets to seal up holes/ so mice will still be able to have another go. I will have to do this if I can't get into the housing tho.

Hi there Onoff. I can clearly see this one I'm pointing to in pic 1, but even a flat s'driver trying to prize this clip up, only gets so far.. it feels like there at least one other clip, rearside or something.. Lord knows how I could get to/ pic 2. Thanks. Zh

Ah. This is a step onward. Ok yup I can easily undo those two silver screws/ which removes the two little black cable clamps. But it's from here I'm at a loss- how to get into this terminal box. I can't really take any better pics: the wee clamps removed doesn't give me anymore logical way of entry. All I can see, is a small clip RHS on the housing.. but prying under this (which seems indeed to be some sort of clip locking two sections of the housing together)... I get nowhere. I just cant 'open' the housing. I'll just break the clip if I go any harder at it. There's defo something else I need to undo or unclip, to get the housing open. But I can't get around rearside of it ( to find another clip or aomething), being pretty obviously inaccessible. Great info about the flex thanks- That's exactly what I had in mind to buy poss tmrw in screwfix.

Hi BB, hope all's well in botusland. Yup those 2 cable clamp screws easily removed (should've said I did those in #1). Then on though.. I'm stumped.

Hi chaps, I need to replace a fridge cable, but cannot figure out how to access rear section, to remove grey mains cable. Hotpoint fairly new fridge. Photo here: seems to be a black square electric terminal housing. Anyone familiar with something like this? Thanks. Zoot