Help a newbie please

Ok lets start of by stating that my knowledge for electrics is about as bad as it can get. I can change plugs and switches aslong as I can copy the old one

Right in my toolbox I have a pen "kewtech" pen that glows when I hold it near anything with a current i.e power cables, plug sockets etc. Whilst messing about with it I touched it against central heating pipes under the floorboard (don't ask why). The pen glowed which worried me. Now the pen also glows when I hold it next to plastic water pipes, my sink taps, and when i turn the tap on an dip the pen in.

So now I am confused. Also this only happens upstairs. Basicly what I want to know is why this is happening and is it bad? I have touched these pipes a 100 times and never got any shock and when I hold the pen within an inch of a power lead it glows where as I have to touch the pen against the pipes to make it glow so I am hoping I am just being a newbie OR the pen needs binning.

Thanks for any help

did you know, one of those will light up if you rub it up and down fast on a jumper?

now you decide what to do with it

Oh yeah just tried it

OK fair point, ill bin it. But why does this only happen upstairs?

And on a serious note can you advise me something to buy where I can test wires, or even central heating pipes that I know can turn live in bad circuimstances

I am guessing you will say a volt meter but I don't really understand what to do with one

Thanks again

Don't bin it - it can be a really useful tool, as long as you don't rely on it for safe isolation etc. I use one almost every day. But it can be misleading if you're not used to it.

I use one of these:

http://www.dilog.co.uk/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=106

In conjunction with one of these:

http://www.kewtechcorp.com/products/electrical_testing/kewprove.htm

Drop it in the nearest river and walk away from it your potentally asking electricity to pass through your body if you are unfortunate to find a faulty cable whilst using it
Get yourself an approved voltage tester that conforms gs38 (fused leads tips that are no more than 4mm protuding.)

also you should have to go with it a proving unit to test the tester before you test.

finally do not under estimate your ablities a little knowlege can be highly dangerous remember electricity has no concience it has no prejudice and is silent


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Martindale-Pr...14&_trkparms=72:1688|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Drop it in the nearest river and walk away from it your potentally asking electricity to pass through your body if you are unfortunate to find a faulty cable whilst using it

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I think OP means a 'volt stick' not neon screwdriver.

As others have said volt sticks have their use and as long as they are proved each time on a known 'live' circuit before and after test

I also use a volt stick but as with all electrical equipment you must know how to use it. The tester shown in the previous posts are very good but unlike the volt stick and cable finder do need an electrical connection so don't do the same job.

As to what you have found it would worry me and I personally would check further. There may be nothing wrong but also you could be missing some bonding cables and to be on save side I would get the house checked.

With static electricity generating 1000's of volts of course the tester will work by rubbing on a jumper it is done by 100's of electricians to see if the stick is still working. They require batteries and these can become flat which is one reason why they are not trusted. To prove safe we use a tester with no range switch and no batteries as it removes as many chances of error as we can. Plus we use some method to test it as shown with proving units.

But from what you are saying it still rings alarm bells and to ignore what you have found would be silly. However from what you say I don't think you have skill required to test. Under the new regulations earth bonding is not required to the same extent as before because of the use of better emergency disconnection devices like the RCD and rules on plastic pipes. So there may be no fault. In most cases one needs two or more faults to get an electric shock. For example no earth wire (fault 1) and faulty immersion heater (fault 2) so although I agree with the others it is likely there is no problem I would still get it checked.

DESL said:

As others have said volt sticks have their use and as long as they are proved each time on a known 'live' circuit before and after test

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I use mine for fixing mains xmas tree lights. They can be used for finding a break in a cable, however for any intrusive electrical work they must not be used.

ericmark said:

To prove safe we use a tester with no range switch and no batteries as it removes as many chances of error as we can. Plus we use some method to test it as shown with proving units.

Click to expand...

Most of the voltage testers I have take batteries

Spark123 said:

DESL said:

As others have said volt sticks have their use and as long as they are proved each time on a known 'live' circuit before and after test

Click to expand...

I use mine for fixing mains xmas tree lights. They can be used for finding a break in a cable, however for any intrusive electrical work they must not be used.

ericmark said:

To prove safe we use a tester with no range switch and no batteries as it removes as many chances of error as we can. Plus we use some method to test it as shown with proving units.

Click to expand...

Most of the voltage testers I have take batteries

Click to expand...

I would not try using any testers with batteries to test for dead in any petro-chemical plant or you may lose your pass, also always have a proving box with you.
Yes I know seems OTT but either you follow their rules or you don't work on their sites. At least the ones I have worked on are very strict on rules.
No second chances they just wave good by.

I don't work in any petrochemical sites tho
The ones issued to me by our company have batteries in them - Steinel Combichecks.
When the batteries die the testers don't perform either - goes to show the importance of carrying out the proof test of the instrument before and after testing the isolation.
The only modern set I own which doesn't have batteries is the same as those linked to above, I also have the same proving unit.