Need advice with replacing old electrical terminal

[zenonithus]

Hi all, I have this old electrical terminal attached to the wall. It's all cracked up so I want to replace it and take it off the wall and put it under the floorboard.

Is this as simple as switching off the mains, buying a new terminal and putting the wires into that?

Also something of concern. I used a mains tester screwdriver on all the wires. A black wire and one of the red showed nothing. However one of the red showed having current as well as the other black which is the one taped up with blue tape in the image, so seems kinda dangerous!

Will a 6 terminal junction box like this one in the link below be ok to replace even if one terminal will not be used? Also some of these boxes have an AMP number. How would I know which amp I need? cheers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-Amp-6-...190324&hash=item235984fcdf:g:pRoAAOSwR5dXQuBj

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Ideally you need to find the location of the upstream supply to this junction and disconnect it there, rather than terminating underfloor.
It will not be current that you are reading but voltage and the equipment that you are using to perform this test is not a reliable one. Ideally a two pole/probe voltage indicator will measure a voltage.

 

[sparkwright]

A maintenance free Hager junction box (20 amp) would be ideal.

Be certain you have safely isolated the supply to this old jb fully. If in doubt get an electrician in.

 

[zenonithus]

cheers guys, yeah I think terminating the wire as a whole is best. I think I know where the junction box to that is as I already terminated a cut off wire from it. Though this wire was an old electrical plug outlet and I was thinking of adding an electrical outlet on the chimney breast that I bricked up. Would it be worth keeping it there so the electrician can carry it on from that?

 

[endecotp]

I think you need to find out where those two cables go.
One possibility is that your socket ring is no longer a ring because those two cables are not connected together.

 

[sparkwright]

I had assumed these were lighting cables, but now you have mentioned 'socket' further investigation is required, as said.

A 20 amp JB MAY not be suitable if these are socket cables, and as said, MAY need further investigation.

The wiring and JB look very old, how are you so sure this was a socket once?

 

[Bosswhite]

It looks like a lighting junction box to me, and as you say its live, possibly a two way Where is it situated, is it possible it is connected to a nearby Fused Spur box to give some sort of extra lighting ?

 

[zenonithus]

Here is a pic to show it's location. So it was originaly boxed up with what looked to be remnents of back boiler plumbing. I only assumed it was a socket as there was a filled in hole in the wall that grey square near it. Though thinking about it it's more likely it fed into the old backboiler. What do you think?

 

[endecotp]

That's a possibility, but you really need to know for sure. Do you own a multimeter?

 

[zenonithus]

I think I can get one from work. How do you use them?

 

[endecotp]

There are various approaches, but one option is:
TURN OFF ALL THE POWER FIRST.
Find all the cables that might be the other end of those two.
Disconnect from whatever they're currently connected to.
Measure the resistance between the red and black wires.
Then join the two wires together at the other end, and measure again.
If you get very high / infinite resistance when they are not joined and then very low / zero resistance when they are joined, then you know it's the other end of the cable. (Or, it's joined to it somehow.)

 

[zenonithus]

Thanks for the instructions, will give that a try if I can get one of those from work. My usual test for if its the same cable is the tug and see if the other end drags away Also I could remove a few of the re-positioned floorboards to see where the wire goes. I really wish they screwed down all the floorboards they lifted instead of nailing them

 

[zenonithus]

Also something else I need to look out for is some wires are for the lights downstairs. I need to be careful what I disconnect even if my power is off as it could be linked to their mains :-S

 

[AdrianUK]

Though thinking about it it's more likely it fed into the old backboiler. What do you think?

Old location for some kind of central heating programmer? These are old feeds to the pump/room stat/back boiler supply?? Too many options to try and guess....

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I think you need to find out where those two cables go.
One possibility is that your socket ring is no longer a ring because those two cables are not connected together.

If it was a RFC, then providing the circuit is not broke elsewhere, both legs would still be live. But as the test instrument being used is an unreliable one, further and better investigation and tests would be advised.