Viewing 18 posts - 41 through 58 (of 58 total)
  • Electrical help, i drilled into a cable!
  • Sonor
    Free Member

    Oldgit, I agree, I work in the gas industry, and the amount of people who tell me with pride, that they don’t mess with gas or water suprises me, they’ll happily have a go at doing electrical work in there houses, but the risk of a flood or leaving an escape scares them. Whereas the risk of killing themselves in an instant seems worth saving £50 over

    In all my years as an electrician it never ceases to amaze me that people have such a casual attitude towards doing their own electrics.

    The things I’ve seen.
    The horror….the horror.

    I’ve seen some “shocking” stuff in my time.

    saladdodger
    Free Member

    Yea I am qualified ( JIB Approved) with more tickets than you would believe

    Yes home electrics are easy until it goes wrong no puddles or smells to warn you

    plumbing leaves a puddle

    Gas smells

    bet your LBS fixes your bike

    I know of a couple who lost a toddler now tell me a bodge is worth it

    saladdodger
    Free Member

    btw I live near taunton

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    Can you not do a hot joint or resin joint on it? Not that I am suggesting someone with no knowledge goes about doing such a thing… but if you know what you are doing it would be a lot less hassle 😉 I use them on 3 phase power cables that are underwater in use and they seem to be fine there!

    Denno17
    Free Member

    Just get a qualified spark in. I’m qualified and some of the “quick repairs” i have seen have scared the s**t out of me how the houses are still standing is no body’s guess. The attitude of “just wrap it in insulation tape” is a dangerous joke. The only time i use insulation tape is to attach new cable to my rods.I have a very healthy fear of electric, as someone on here has said water you can see gas you can smell, electric will bite you in the ass and not feel sorry for it. I had a mate who drilled into a wall on a house only to find a 3 phase cable behind it, lets just say he’s pushing up daisys now……….

    Flaperon
    Full Member

    My dad drilled into a wall with an unmarked 3 phase cable behind it, took out the fuse at the substation. 🙂

    Mind you, I once pushed a wrong button on the lighting desk at a theatre with a somewhat, uh, “rickety” set of dimmer racks and accidentally turned on about 50kW of stage lighting in a snap fade. Saw the blue flashes from the electrical bay through the varnished wooden floor(!), then the power went off. Then the burglar alarm went off. Went outside looking as nonchalant as possible and discovered that power was off to most of the town…

    After that incident they replaced it with a proper 3-phase installation. 🙂

    Spongebob
    Free Member

    What a waste of time this forum is!

    swisstony
    Free Member

    right then i’ve got to the cable which wasn’t too bad and there’s a bit of slack. As you can hopefully see the live has only just been touched and has suffered not much damage but the earth has melted through.

    As for either end, the top goes up to the new bathroom with the newly tiled floor so that’s not coming up and as far as i can tell the bottom goes to an old socket that’s behind the boiler which you can’t get to so will never be used.

    Don’t if this sheds any different light on things??

    ta

    shands
    Free Member

    You have to way it up really. Get a sparkie in to do it properly or take the risk of bodging it yourself, invalidating your home insurance and possibly loosing the lot.

    There has been plenty of advice but the best has been to get a sparkie to have a look at it. There is loads about and theyre not going to charge a lot for that.
    But hey your the one who lives their.

    *Note to self never buy anything from Swisstony! lol*

    wilsonthecat
    Free Member

    If you are asking for advice on here you really don’t know what you are doing!

    Just pay someone 100quid to fix it. A couple of hours at the most and a spark can sort that out.

    headfirst
    Free Member

    Naaaahhhhhh……….bit of leccy tape and away ya go. Don’t skimp though, I’d use a whole roll on that if I were you.

    Disclaimer:I AM joking

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member

    If you think it goes to a socket which will not be used in future, first you have to check it’s not part of a ring. Cut the live ends and put them well clear of contact with anything and turn power back on – check if the socket still works. If it does then the cable is part of a ring and needs to be reconnected for safety. If not just cap it off with a junction box after cutting away the defunct section. Uh, remember to turn the power off again after the check above 🙂

    If it has to be reconnected then the crimp idea sounds good as screw terminals do have a tendency to loosen over time…

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    I am very not sure about using crimps on ring mains. Myself I would junction box it and stuff it back in the wall but that ain’t best practice for sure

    lyons
    Free Member

    Get a qualified electrician to come in an sort it out. He’ll tell you your options, after seeing the damage 1st hand. The fact you say ‘the live has only just been touched and has suffered not much damage’ says alot really.

    also, i have a feeling your fuseboard is going to be quite out of date… The circuit really should have tripped/ blown after that.

    I won’t tell you what you should do yourself, as you shouldnt do anything…

    And yes, Im qualified.

    dropoff
    Full Member

    What does it feed in the bathroom, you should be able to get to it by taking down parts of the ceiling. The only right thing to do is replace it. BUT use a competent person.

    lyons
    Free Member

    It doesnt nessecarily need replacing. It could be joined. You just need to know what youre doing. Just using terminal blocks and burying it n the wall really isnt a good way of doing it for instance.

    jumping_flea
    Free Member

    I agree with lyons

    also, i have a feeling your fuseboard is going to be quite out of date… The circuit really should have tripped/ blown after that.

    You need to get a sparky in. The fact you have caused an earth fault via damaging the phase and neutral would have tripped the 30mA RCB on a split board v quickly – Its design to prevent you from killing yourself in the event you drill though a cable 🙄

    If you want to keep the existing cons unit make sure the earthing and bonding is correct. the operation of old type fuses and CB’s is dependant on the quality of the earth. If it has fuses and you have a poor earth they will not blow and you will have a fire in the end.

    The repair is an easy one – the fact that you are thinking of bodging it could risk your house insurance – not worth it

    jumping_flea
    Free Member

    The fact you have caused an earth fault via damaging the phase and neutral

    Should read phase and earth

Viewing 18 posts - 41 through 58 (of 58 total)

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