socket in garage

[teetee]

if anyone can help
my neighbour has a three pin socket spur in his garage that has power going into it but when the drier is pluged in it wont work,socket live but no power coming in any ideas (drier is ok i tried it in the house)

 

[securespark]

How do you know the socket is live?

If there is power coming into the back of the socket, but nothing coming out of the front, then try replacing the socket.

 

[bernardgreen]

How do you know it is "live" ?

Does anything work when plugged in ?

If the live pin is live and things do not work then the neutral wire is disconnected / broken or other wise not intact.

The worry is the earth wire may have suffered the same fate.

Get it properly checked out.

 

[teetee]

i checked it with a neon tester i know its not the best thing to use but it does show live
plus the neon tester shows that there is power coming through on the drier flex
i also just found out that he put a screwed through the neutral wire but i checked that and there is no breakage

 

[EddieCurrent]

Hello,

Are you sure you should be looking into this yourself ? I think it would be best for your neighbour to get a 'pro' in.
No offence, but you must be very careful, and if you are not confident, or do not have the correct tools (neon drivers should be snapped in half and thrown in the waste bin) you may end up getting yourself in all sorts of trouble, I understand that you are only trying to help a neighbour but how far are you going to go ? have you checked to see if its on an RCD ? How will you test it ?
Maybe,do a visual inspection with the circuit off and see if there is a loose conductor ?
If the 'neutral' was screwed through, are you 100% sure there is no break in the cable ?

 

[teetee]

i know what your saying and thanks for the advice
firstly there is no RCB
secondly (this is how bad the wiring is) the spur is connected onto a 3 gang 10A light switch and the reason that he screwed through into the neutral wire is that he put sharp screws through into the box to hold the switch on instead of the standard ones last saturday so i checked for a breakage there there was a puncture but the wire was ok

 

[breezer]

if it was ok (as you think it is) then it would work.

but since it doesnt work, there is something wrong.

also since its not your house if something goes wrong, guess who will get the blame (clue, not me)

i would apologise to your neighbour and say its beyond your capability and suggest they call an electrician

 

[bernardgreen]

i know what your saying and thanks for the advice
firstly there is no RCB
secondly (this is how bad the wiring is) the spur is connected onto a 3 gang 10A light switch and the reason that he screwed through into the neutral wire is that

That is bad

he put sharp screws through into the box to hold the switch on instead of the standard ones last saturday so i checked for a breakage there there was a puncture but the wire was ok

There could be serious damage to the wires inside the cable sheath.

This is one I made earlier.

Note the small hole caused by a steel woodscrew. From the outside the cable looked un-marked except for the small clean puncture.

Opening the sheath exposed the full extent of the damage inside the sheath.

The earth conductor has a 2 mm gap in it. Soot and copper particles spread inside the sheath for 3 inches either side of the puncture.

 

[securespark]

Isn't it kind of Bernard to go to all the trouble of screwing through a live 3C&E just to illustrate the dangers of this practice to folk here?

Give the man a round of applause!

 

[bernardgreen]

Well I used to be a fan of Blue Peter..... ( or was it blew meter )

I had spent 2 hours getting the cable in for the switch and then put an over-long screw into the door frame.

 

[Steve]

teetee, that is a disaster. do your neighbour a favour and disconnect the circuit and take away the MCB to your house. It breaks so many rules its unimaginable (and i have only skimmed this).

 

[teetee]

thanks everybody for your replies
your right i told my neighbour that this is very much beyond my limit
if anyone is still interested i have drawn a diagram of the wiring here

http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=switchwiringuz3.png

like i said it's beyond me but i am still curious but no worries i told him to get a sparky to sort it
[/img]

 

[EddieCurrent]

Hello,

Are you sure that this diagram is complete ??

No more cables to add ???

 

[teetee]

no all the wires are not there i just put what i thought was needed there is another 2 earth wires connected from what i can remember

 

[JohnD]

perhaps a red link across the top of the switches?