Hello. This is not a query about electrics, nor is it about a problem with the workings of a particular freezer or fridge. It is a question of a general nature. In order to ask my question, it will be necessary to provide some background information. I do hope this won't be too tedious, so here goes:
Our current fridge and freezer are both Hotpoint Iced Diamond (about eight years old). The power sockets for each appliance are sited above the kitchen work-top. Therefore, cables, from each plug in these sockets, pass through the worktop and reach to about floor level. At the end of each, resting on the floor, are 10amp cable connectors. So, the cords from each appliance do not have the usual 3-pin UK power plug at the end — instead, there is the male end of the said cable connectors. This arrangement is not ideal, because, as things stand, when these appliances need to be replaced (and I think that this will be fairly soon), in order to use the new appliances, it would be necessary to cut off the new power plug and attach the relevant half of the cable connector. (Of course, this would immediately invalidate the guarantees on the new appliances.) Also, there would be a long and undesirable delay, while I did the electrical work of attaching the cable connector.
I want to avoid this problem, by making the existing cables from the kitchen sockets end up with, not cable-connectors like the ones being used, but with 3-pin extension sockets. This would allow me to immediately plug in new appliances without needing to cut off their plugs.
In the drawing that I am uploading with this posting (which please see), you will see that, at the rear of our existing fridge and freezer, there is a 6-inch wide cavity, into which an extension socket, with its attached plug, can fit. To make use of this space is the only way that I see to get rid of the cable-connectors — there simply is not enough room, anywhere else behind the appliances, for a socket and plug. And we cannot afford to have these appliances standing further out from under the worktop, than they are are present (about an inch, max.).
With all of this background in mind, my question is fairly simple, and it is this: since we don't yet know which make of replacement fridge and freezer we will be buying, my concern is that, on a new fridge and freezer, a space similar to the space at the back of the existing appliances may not exist. Yet, I still think that, since all fridges/freezers work in broadly the same way, it is reasonable to gamble that all makes do have such a space, and in approximately the same position as the ones that I see on our appliances. However, I don't know for certain. Therefore, I am hoping that someone that has seen many different freezers and/or fridges will be able to reassure me about this.
Any helpful comments/replies would be very much appreciated.
A.W.
PS: Because of our age, my wife and I are too infirm to go looking in out-of-town stores, to check for ourselves. Instead, I am hoping that someone in the fridge retail business can advise me.
Our current fridge and freezer are both Hotpoint Iced Diamond (about eight years old). The power sockets for each appliance are sited above the kitchen work-top. Therefore, cables, from each plug in these sockets, pass through the worktop and reach to about floor level. At the end of each, resting on the floor, are 10amp cable connectors. So, the cords from each appliance do not have the usual 3-pin UK power plug at the end — instead, there is the male end of the said cable connectors. This arrangement is not ideal, because, as things stand, when these appliances need to be replaced (and I think that this will be fairly soon), in order to use the new appliances, it would be necessary to cut off the new power plug and attach the relevant half of the cable connector. (Of course, this would immediately invalidate the guarantees on the new appliances.) Also, there would be a long and undesirable delay, while I did the electrical work of attaching the cable connector.
I want to avoid this problem, by making the existing cables from the kitchen sockets end up with, not cable-connectors like the ones being used, but with 3-pin extension sockets. This would allow me to immediately plug in new appliances without needing to cut off their plugs.
In the drawing that I am uploading with this posting (which please see), you will see that, at the rear of our existing fridge and freezer, there is a 6-inch wide cavity, into which an extension socket, with its attached plug, can fit. To make use of this space is the only way that I see to get rid of the cable-connectors — there simply is not enough room, anywhere else behind the appliances, for a socket and plug. And we cannot afford to have these appliances standing further out from under the worktop, than they are are present (about an inch, max.).
With all of this background in mind, my question is fairly simple, and it is this: since we don't yet know which make of replacement fridge and freezer we will be buying, my concern is that, on a new fridge and freezer, a space similar to the space at the back of the existing appliances may not exist. Yet, I still think that, since all fridges/freezers work in broadly the same way, it is reasonable to gamble that all makes do have such a space, and in approximately the same position as the ones that I see on our appliances. However, I don't know for certain. Therefore, I am hoping that someone that has seen many different freezers and/or fridges will be able to reassure me about this.
Any helpful comments/replies would be very much appreciated.
A.W.
PS: Because of our age, my wife and I are too infirm to go looking in out-of-town stores, to check for ourselves. Instead, I am hoping that someone in the fridge retail business can advise me.
