Best way to terminate live wires in a wall.

I have several old bits of flex run on top of picture rails in various rooms. I’m pretty sure these were for long removed wall lights by tracing the cables. All but one are still live and ideally I’d like to completely remove, but that requires a lot of mess, so was thinking of cutting the wire back and terminating where it enters the room and them burying in the wall. Not ideal but safer than a long stretch of live wire hidden away in the alcoves. Eventually I would hope to locate the connection to the lighting ring (it’s not from the lighting rose).

So what is the safest way to terminate? I’ve been reading about wire nuts?

There isn’t really one, you should remove them – won’t meet regs if you bury them as if they’re not connected to an electrical item they’re not allowed to be there.

Can you get above to terminate them in a junction box in the ceiling space? Then just leave the wires dead.

The only safe way to do it I suppose would be to put a patress box in and put the wires in that with a blanking plate over it to give a clue there is wires there, but it’s going to look crap and still not be right.

And yes, I’ve put a drill through live wires going nowhere in a wall before. Surprises you somewhat…

There isn’t really one, you should remove them – won’t meet regs if you bury them as if they’re not connected to an electrical item they’re not allowed to be there.

No one is going to rip them out the plaster and have the walls re-skimmed for this!

I’d just terminate the ends using chocolate blocks and cover in tape (even if you don’t think they’re live) and then polly filla over it. It’s not ideal, but better than nothing. Also take a photo of where each one is in the room, so you have a record. I did this when re-wiring the kitchen, it proved quite handy when I want to drill into a wall 15 years later and can’t remember where the wires run.

NB A test for whether or not they are really connected is to short N to E (assuming you have an RCD covering all circuits). This will normally trip the RCD even if the breaker is switched off, as there is normally enough induced current in the N to trip the RCD. Not 100%, but if it does trip the RCD, it’s still connected, if not, then you still don’t know for sure.

How do you intend cutting them back, bearing in mind they are live. Dangerous to cut through the full cable and be prepared for a big bang, melting your cutters and cleaning your undercrackers.

No one is going to rip them out the plaster and have the walls re-skimmed for this!

I currently am. Granted having some plastering done anyway so sorting the wiring before isn’t much extra plastering. As I said, ideal to terminate them above/wherever if possible and avoid the plastering but leaving them live and buried is just nobbish, next person in there won’t know. Maybe I’m biased having put a drill through one myself though!

OP’s post sounds like the wires just enter somewhere rather than being run down behind plaster etc?

How do you intend cutting them back, bearing in mind they are live.

Turn off the mains at the fuse box?

melting your cutters

You just get a loud band, a good spark and they weld a small hole in the blades, which proves very useful for stripping wires. All my side cutters have these 🙂

My tiler in a bathroom just hid a redundant live wire, high above a door, i think it was for a ceiling fan once. Electrician came, saw the attempt, went ballistic…

It’s people who do this that previous owners really hate.

It’s a horrible bodge.

At the very least have them removed at the start of the circuit prior to burying at least then there won’t be live cables in non safe zones…..

You will forget one day in the future your self and stick a screw though it anyway never mind their being no way for a new owner to know.

the bodge is already there I’m trying to make it less bodged without massive disruption. I suspect the cables are run in the cavity and enter the room just above the picture rail run along it to both alcoves. the wire is then hidden where is goes down to the old uplighters position. from what I can tell they didn’t even fill the hole just wallpapered over, as when you tap the area it sounds hollow.

my basic plan till I can locate the start of the connection, if I ever do, is to cut it right back to where it enters the room and then terminating it there/ hiding it. It would be in the corner of the room so highly unlikely to be an issue unlike what I have now…

I’ve tested with a simple voltage detector and flicking on/off the circuits to work out which lighting circuits they are on.

I don’t get why when they were wired in the first place they hid some cable in the wall yet just tacked some visibly to the picture rail. in some ways a good thing as I would have no idea there was anything there at all

If it’s really shoddily done, and you can find where the cables start out from, you might, with a good tug, be able to pull the wires up and out of their channels! Obs do this with the appropriate power turned off or isolated at the consumer unit etc!

You can get flat blanking plates for wall boxes, so one option is to sink in a wall box where the cables come down, terminate the wires there (ideally using proper crimp-on wire terminators, but chocblocks and tape is a reasonable second option). The lid of the box can then be painted or papered over

Call an electrician… youd be better off getting it sorted out properly now in the long run and who knows what other bodges are in the houses wiring?

I have a sparky in on Monday, before i speak to them I always want ant idea of what I’m asking for.

he’s actually in to help me rewiring the back of the house where the lighting circuit has no earth!

a rewire would be preferable but I don’t have 10 grand so I’m doing it zone by zone as I go. I’ve had a new consumer unit put in and it’s passed all the tests so whilst it definitely does not meet current regs it is not deemed unsafe. except for that earthing which I’m getting sorted…

Call an electrician… youd be better off getting it sorted out properly now in the long run and who knows what other bodges are in the houses wiring?

They don’t have any magic powers. Removing wires in walls means making a complete mess of the wall and replastering.

It really isn’t the end of the word leaving them there.

plan to go for the pattress / blanking plate option. I already have some spare boxes and it won’t take long to cut. I reckon once painted over it would hardly be noticeable up in the corner of the room

Nuke it from space? Supposedly the only way to be sure.

we had this issue with some wall lights removed by the previous owners, we have left them live, but either hung pictures over the spot or stuck little plaster things (like fleur de lys but not..) to covr and mark the spot. prettier than blanking plates, and when the time comes that we have the relevant carpets up, we’ll sort it properly.

They don’t have any magic powers. Removing wires in walls means making a complete mess of the wall and replastering.

It really isn’t the end of the word leaving them there.

🙄

burying live cables is daft, ask the electrician to trace and disconnect them, then you leave them in the walls dead, no mess and no plastering or decorating.

magic…

^What he said.

It really isn’t the end of the word leaving them there.

It would be if it electrocuted you.

The sparky should be able to trace them with a tone (well, a telephone engineer could). Have you checked your sockets nearby, they could be wired off those. (we had flex chased down the wall from a wall light, then it popped out near the socket with a 3 pin plug on it! Easy to make dead, but seeing as half the plaster was falling off, we removed them anyway)

If the wires are made dead, it might be OK to abandon the cable in the wall

I had this last week at the gf’s house. My own stupid fault really but wanting to plaster/fill a redundant switch with wires in it. She said an electrician had told her it was all dead and safe now.
The massive bang and spark when I went at it with my side cutters suggested otherwise… 😯

I now have a voltage pen…