Tripped Electrics - Socket / Light not working

[Marksadd]

Hi, I have been doing some home DIY and somehow broken a circuit. There are only two scenarios where I potentially could have damaged to my knowledge.

- I initially drilled a shallow pilot hole when installing a curtain rail to check for electrics (my tester was only beeping for metal). On inspecting the pilot hole I couldn’t quite make it out but potentially saw something grey (potentially cable housing) and then a few specs of what I thought looked like copper. This didn’t trip the electrics and the sockets / lights in the immediate vicinity still worked. I installed the curtain pole elsewhere as didn’t want to risk that further.

- On installing a single socket my retaining screw hit the live wire, when switching back on the electrics it tripped the circuit. I stripped back the wire and re-installed. No further issues.

The issue I have is with a double power socket and an understairs light, neither work post something I’ve done. The are on either side of the same wall, but sit the opposite side of the room from from the first point. All other sockets and lights work in the property, my thoughts are whether the first did more damage than I expected, but would it trip when I turned the power back on?

Any thoughts or ways I could problem solve would be greatly appreciated. Note I have reset the circuit a number of times by means of switching all to off and then back to on, however to no prevail.

 

[Murdochcat]

Where is the faulty double socket in relation to the hole you drilled?

Could you post a photo?

 

[ETAF]

i guess the hole you drilled may have just cut the live conductor or the neutral without the drill bit touching the earth - unlikely , put i suppose its possible

so what happened here

- I initially drilled a shallow pilot hole when installing a curtain rail to check for electrics

How does drilling a hole really check for electrics ???? - seems a strange thing to do - probably i misunderstand

(my tester was only beeping for metal)

i would not trust a surface detector - had a few in my time, and get all sorts of miss reads with them

 

[Jurassicspark]

The issue I have is with a double power socket and an understairs light, neither work post something I’ve done. The are on either side of the same wall, but sit the opposite side of the room from from the first point. All other sockets and lights work in the property, my thoughts are whether the first did more damage than I expected, but would it trip when I turned the power back on?

Are these accessories supplied by a FCU?

Or, is there any FCU's nearby?

 

[Marksadd]

Where is the faulty double socket in relation to the hole you drilled?

Could you post a photo?

Hi, it’s the opposite side of the room, unfortunately I’m not there tonight, but to describe, the light is in the understairs cupboard on the left, you go through the door to the living room and on the left is the double socket. Directly opposite, aprox 4 metres away is the location of the drilling.

 

[Marksadd]

i guess the hole you drilled may have just cut the live conductor or the neutral without the drill bit touching the earth - unlikely , put i suppose its possible

so what happened here

How does drilling a hole really check for electrics ???? - seems a strange thing to do - probably i misunderstand

i would not trust a surface detector - had a few in my time, and get all sorts of miss reads with them

No you’ve understood correctly, probably wasnt the smartest move, I didn’t go straight in, but took a few millimetres off at a time to see whether then was a channel

 

[Marksadd]

Are these accessories supplied by a FCU?

Or, is there any FCU's nearby?

The light is fused, I changed that this morning with the hope it would help

 

[Murdochcat]

Hi, it’s the opposite side of the room, unfortunately I’m not there tonight, but to describe, the light is in the understairs cupboard on the left, you go through the door to the living room and on the left is the double socket. Directly opposite, aprox 4 metres away is the location of the drilling.

Hum, if you’re tempted to fiddle around please be aware that a damaged neutral would give the same effect as the socket being dead and you could give yourself a very nasty shock

 

[ETAF]

No you’ve understood correctly,

i guess you need to cut out that section to be able to see what really has happened. High chance of electric shock , so you will need to isolate , even if that means turning ALL power OFF

do you have a picture of the hole and where the wire seems to run
How old is the house/wiring
I guess it maybe a DIYer put the cable in

 

[Marksadd]

i guess you need to cut out that section to be able to see what really has happened. High chance of electric shock , so you will need to isolate , even if that means turning ALL power OFF

do you have a picture of the hole and where the wire seems to run
How old is the house/wiring
I guess it maybe a DIYer put the cable in

The hole was about 20 cm from the ceiling, I don’t have a photo as a filled and smoothed. I roughly know where it was so could cut out a channel. The house was built in the late 80’s. It’s strange that its caused issues with the plug and light on the other side of the room. There is a socket upstairs directly above where the potential issues arose, and that still works fine. But I have no idea how the property is wired.