Upstairs mains wiring, channelled downstairs?

[gsf600y]

Moved into new house recently, and discovering lots of dodgy wiring DIY jobs.

So, we've got a fireplace in the lounge downstairs.
We've stripped the wallpaper off, and discovered a channel containing 2 electric cables, going all the way up the lounge wall, up behind the coving. It's only a couple of mm beneath the plaster, so naturally the plaster has just falled on it.

DIRECTLY above this, is a twin plug socket in a bedroom.

I thought that maybe they'd connected it to the plug socket somehow, but having taking the face off that, there's just 2 cables coming into the plug socket which I assume are normal for a normal upstairs mains ring?

SO, could someone help me understand how this fire place might be wired up?
Could they have lifted floorboards upstairs, and wired up a junction box to the ring upstairs?

Any thoughts/advice are welcome!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Most sockets have two cables - could be a ring, could be a radial, could be a spur with another spur - which may be compliant or not depending on other things.

We can have no idea how the fire is connected without seeing - well - how it's connected.

 

[gsf600y]

I assume that the connections are all going to be under the floorboards upstairs? And if I lift those, I'll find how it's all wired up?

 

[securespark]

I thought that maybe they'd connected it to the plug socket somehow,

Connected what to the socket?

It is entirely possible that the downstairs socket (if that is the thing you are talking about) is connected to the upstairs ring final.

That is not necessarily dodgy or DIY.

There are some missing grommets, that does not suggest a professional job.

 

[gsf600y]

Sorry, I didn't explain clearly.
The fireplace cable (there's no socket for the fireplace, just directly cabled), ran up the wall, and I thoght might have been connected to the back of the plug socket upstairs.
I thought I'd see some extra cables coming out the back of the plug socket basically.

But it must be connected up in the floor void I guess?

 

[EFLImpudence]

That's still not clear.

Do you mean two cables are connected to the fire?

How do you know the cables aren't running down the wall and not up?

 

[gsf600y]

Well, the channel goes down the wall to the height of the fire, and no further. It disappears behind the fire.
I can see no other evidence of how this fire could have been connected to the electric.

So, I am assuming that's how it's connected. I can't see any other reason they would have taken a mains cable up the wall to upstairs either, so it seems likely it's coming down the wall to power the fire.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The only way to find out the answer to the mystery is for you to remove the fire and see what is hidden behind!

I rather think that guessing that the cables are somehow connected to the upstairs socket may lead you down the proverbial garden path.

 

[Tigercubrider]

My 50's house has solid floors with parquet from new - normal boards upstairs.
All the electrics run through the ceiling/floor between ground and first floors, apart from the upstairs lights.

 

[gsf600y]

So....latest development....
We found a gas man to come remove the fire today.

And guess what? As suggested might be the case.....the wires don't go to the fire at all

So, now the fire was gone, I did a little digging in the wall.
It goes down, then off to one side....


So, I dug to the end, and basically stopped digging when I saw the exposed twin and earth cables:

They were just buried in the plaster. I'm hoping they're not actually connected to anything.

More digging required, when I get opportunity to kill power to the entire house - I've no idea which fuse on the consumer unit this thing could be connected to.

 

[EFLImpudence]

They were just buried in the plaster. I'm hoping they're not actually connected to anything.

Perfectly acceptable and, it could be argued, the best method -

although yours are apparently not in acceptable places and routes.


Can you dig a bit farther and reveal that damage - or did you just cause it?

 

[gsf600y]

Really? Just seems dodgy to me to bury electric cables running down the middle of a lounge wall, just asking to be drilled/hammered/etc into.

I've just dug the surface plaster off, and not done anything else.
Bit worried about probing further and electrocuting myself
Will have to wait for power to be switched off when I get opportunity.

 

[gsf600y]

Bah, couldn't resist a little more digging....and it's getting more complicated now:


There's a black cable coming up from the floor, which is connected to one of the grey cables that comes down the wall.
The black cable also seems to go to the right....with a blue cable in there somewhere....

The other grey cable seems to go off to the right.

And there's a bundle of something covered in black tape.

Sigh....I feel like I'm going to destroy the wall trying to discover what this is, but I've got to get that cable out of the wall because it's not deep enough to paint over.

 

[EFLImpudence]

That is definitely a rubbish bodge up.

I suggest you get an electrician to sort it out.

 

[gsf600y]

I suggest you get an electrician to sort it out.

I think I agree completely!
It's all about 2 inches from the gas point I've just had capped off too.

I can see now that there's a white twin and earth cable disappearing out the back of the wall to the other side. There's a small "room" someone has created between the house and the garage, with lighting in it. I'm guessing this could be the point where it spurs off for that....who knows. I'll have to remove the wooden panelling in that room to find out.

God knows why there's a cabling going up the lounge wall.
There are a lot of electrical bodges in this house we've discovered since moving in. Lighting spurs all over the place, 3 sheds + 1 summer house +1 arbor, ALL with plug sockets and lighting and ALL spurred off 1 plug socket in the garage....
Indoor cabling laid in chiselled out channels on the exterior brickwork.....
Cables just cut with bare ends...wouldn't surprise me if some are live....
It's scary.