Is this connection live?

[veedee]

My house was rewired a few years ago..

The chap who did the job, left some blanking plates where the old switches used to be..

I want to remove these plates/backbox, then plaster the wall smooth

Now I am assuming that the connection is not live as the these are old wires (i.e. red) and the house was rewired..

As a newbie, what other way would you suggest I test this?

 

[deadshort]

Hi, I would assume as the wiring has been cut it will be dead. An electrician would not leave live wiring unterminated.
If you are no confident it is dead switch off at the mains before removing the box.

Regards,

DS

 

[oldbutnotdead]

One thing to be wary of- (well 2 things);
First, make sure those wires are dead (if you have a meter and a long piece of single core cable spare you can test them. Don't rely on neon screwsdrivers & voltsticks.)

Second (more importantly) there may still be cables buried in the wall (from the new install)- those old redundant backboxes serve as an indicator that drilling above, below, left or right of that point will be unwise due to the presence of those buried cables.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

An electrician would not leave live wiring unterminated.

Not everybody who takes money for doing rewires is an electrician.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Whssign

• Taylortwocities
• 16 Jul 2016

What he said

 

[Jackrae]

Number one rule of electrics "Assume nothing"

 

[deadshort]

Number one rule of electrics "Assume nothing"

I would ' assume' rule one would be switch off the power ? …….. but then again, i may have lived longer than you

DS

 

[Jackrae]

You may assume a line is not live on the basis that you have either no way of checking it or to the best of your knowledge it has not been checked
You may presume a line is not live on the basis that you have switched it off or there is a label attached to it stating it is dead.

Either way a wise person would check to verify a line is not live (irrespective of how old they are).

There are old electricians and there are bold electricians but there are few old-and-bold electricians.

 

[EFLImpudence]

You may assume a line is not live on the basis that you have either no way of checking it or to the best of your knowledge it has not been checked

Surely in that case you would assume the line is live.


...but the OP wants to know if the wire is live when the supply is NOT switched off.

 

[Jackrae]

You may assume a line is not live on the basis that you have either no way of checking it or to the best of your knowledge it has not been checked

Surely in that case you would assume the line is live.


...but the OP wants to know if the wire is live when the supply is NOT switched off.

With respect to advising the OP, that's the assumption one must make until it is proven otherwise.

 

[handyjack]

To assume makes an ass out of u and me

 

[veedee]

Thanks for the responses guys..

I'll turn off the power, do my plastering and hope I don't die along the way..