How to cap a live electric cable?

I’ve sold my pre-fab garage as I’m having an extension built in the new year and the builders need to access the site through where the garage currently stands. The buyer is coming to dismantle it and take it away after Christmas.

I have electricity in there – there is a switch in the cellar then the cable runs across the 4 ft or so to the garage attached to some wire.

I’ll need to cut the cable into the garage before dismantling it but then I’m left with a live feed in the cellar at the switch. How do I cap it safely?

Thanks

get an electrician to do it…

Other than getting an electrician ideally…….

As above! Should be able to isolate it from the main box but deffo best getting someone in for that..

Never work on a live supply
The cable must be fed from a fuse/breaker somewhere in your property, if you cannot isolate or are not confident then get a spark in !

Disconnect the supply, terminate it in a junction box which is screwed to a wall/joist.
Temporarily, you can screw the ends in a terminal block, wrap insulating tape around it-until youve been and bought a junction box and done a proper job on it.

Hmmmm I’d hoped it was quite easy! I know a few sparkies, looks like I’m best off giving one of them a call…

Hmmmm I’d hoped it was quite easy

er, it is if you know what you’re doing! just do what a sparky would do, trace it back to the board, or a suitable point and disconnect it. thing is tho, a sparky will be able to do it in minutes, and will have the tools (tester), it will take you a lot more than that and by the sounds of it you won’t have the tools….

Best bet would be isolate the supply to the switch in the cellar at the fuse box and disconnect the spur (wire to the garage) depending on what else is comming off the switch you could wire it back as it is or if the switch is now redundant you could put a blank face plate over it and connect the wires Internal to the switch box with a bit of chocolate block.

When you come to do your extention make the sparky aware of what has been done and if you blanked it off they could pull it all back further and tidy it up.

I’ll check the consumer unit and see if the supply is on it’s own ring, hopefully it is. If so I guess if I flick the trip switch and cap the wires with a chocolate block it’ll be ok til the sparkie on the extension comes in a few months’ time and sorts it properly?

As long as you completely disconnect the cable to the garage and re connect the remaining wires in either the switch or chocolate block you should be ok.

If you have a seperate circuit for the supply to that switch your easiest and safest option will simply to leave it off at the consumer unit. I would still remove the cable to the garage just incase someone turns it on by accident. You could always tape the switch on the consumer unit on the off position so it is harder for someone to flick back on.

Electrician.

Live working is:

a)Not for the faint hearted
b)Done after training
c)Performed using special insulated tools

A few years ago some cowboy contractors were employed to work on a 415v distribution panel at a London Depot. For some reason they thought they could live work with a pair of standard molgrips. Contractor 1 died, Contractor 2 “lived” after the depot staff put him out with fire extinguishers.

OK a house supply is “only” 240V but plenty enough juice there to kill.

Just turn the main board off cut the cable, chocolate block on the ends then tape up. Why all the drama?

Isolate, open switch and disconnect cable and withdraw it from the box. Close switch back up, pull down the cable and support wire and chop. This avoids having some dodgy cap ended cable.

Cheers all!

Never work on a live supply

Having worked with Norweb in sub stations, everything is done live. It’s only domestic stuff where you have the luxury of being able to switch the supply off without it taking out 600 houses!

never work on a live supply

unless you are competent!

constantly amazed at the questions of how to do xx, when it is clearly dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing…

please get someone to do it if you don’t know how to do it safely, then you can still have a Merry Christmas!

As above. Mains off. Check the spur with a tester first to make it is off. Remove & make good.