I think my approach there if I didn’t have the correct tool (not sure if international plugs allow for the same, and sometimes manufacturers can be fussy about warranties), would be to lop the plug off, pass the cable through a smaller hole, then refit a plug.
This however requires having a plug to refit, and I believe there can be weird regs around having plugged goods passing through “walls”
In the UK at least this used to be pretty common up until recently. It was usually recommended to wire your washing machines into a fixed wall spur instead of using a plug. Incidentally my mums house almost burnt down due to a washing machine plug which had a wiring fault and started melting through the wall socket.
The more I learn about UK wiring, the more I'm convinced it is the worst in the world. Untrained people in third world countries regularly do better. Of course the UK has been getting better, but they are the ones who came up with the ring wiring and then have to put a fuse in each plug to try to overcome some of the problems from that idiot system.
Definitely not a soldering iron (at least on UK plugs). Kitchen scissors in a pinch (or teeth in a real pinch) and presumably a couple of screwdrivers is in everyone’s toolkit if you own a house.
Right! I just looked at replacement plugs for the US, and they're all either compression fit or screw terminals! So, teeth plus a screwdriver (or maybe a butter knife) is all you need.
This however requires having a plug to refit, and I believe there can be weird regs around having plugged goods passing through “walls”