Unknown Cable or Pipe

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Hi All

hopefully someone on here can offer me some advice, i have found the following pipe or cable in the bottom of my foundations as i have been digging. At first i thought it was the lead water supply pipe (its a 1955 property), but on closer inspection it seems to be banded/wrapped in something, and is showing signs of rust, but also shows up silver if you scratch it. Its not rigid, more "heavy floppy" like a modern armoured cable would be.

my previous experience of lead supply pipes has been that they look like a smooth pipe, not wrapped like this?

any suggestions appreciated from anyone who may have seen similar?

Many thanks
 

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The wrapped steel bandage armour tends to be badly rusted and may crumble or break if disturbed. Goes back to the 1920's I think.


You could ask your DNO if they want to replace it, as you've dug to it.
 
It's their cable.

Upstream of the meter.

Probably up to them.

Certainly tell them if you are thinking of putting foundations in your trench.
 
They will be very cross if it gets damaged because you didn't tell them.
 
They will be very cross if it gets damaged because you didn't tell them.

And could charge you handsomely for any repairs including the removal of the foundation and what's built on it...
 
I'm guessing it's a wall otherwise why else the plumb line

Actually, it just looks like marking the edge of the trench to me. You wouldn't/shouldn't build to the edge of a strip foundation.
 
Well the guy can always satisfy his curiosity by simply looking at the cables coming out of the flex into his consumer unit, if there White & Black and have hessian wrap, then yes call the electrical company and have that 1920's taken out ASAP but if there Black & Red and wrapped in thick plastic, then it's a safe bet the previous owner already had it changed!

Well it's a 1955 house so hopefully it isn't a 1920's cable. All I, and others, have said is ask the DNO for advice, rather than wrap it with gorilla tape and crack on.
 
thanks everyone for their comments, here are some updates/answers.

The trench is foundations for a new single storey conservatory replacement, it will be the front wall of said construction.
the string line marks the edge of my trench, not where the wall will be built
To the right on the one pic you can just see the existing wall of the old conservatory, which itself was built up from the foundations/walls of some old outbuildings (which would have been original 1955
the banding is steel, a magnet sticks to it (tested last night)

there is no electrical gear in the house anywhere near where the cable appears to enter, but there MAY have been....

see attached picture.....
  • the green line is my trench
  • the red line is the cable, i exposed a bit more last night and it loops into the trench on the left runs along it and then exists to the right (of the attached picture)
  • the current LIVE supply to the house (and meter/fuse etc) is on the outside front wall where the yellow dot is, in a plastic box, with one of those triangular keys to open it. The supply cable comes up out of the ground there, and enters the plastic box, presumably from the road, which is where the blue arrow points. The consumer unit is on the wall inside behind the meter box.
  • The meter box (and CU etc) are obviously not 1950s, they look relatively recent, i would guess 1980's.

When i reworked the kitchen, i knocked out a doorway at the rear of the house, and there was a empty steel box sunk into the wall (internally) where the pink dot is, the box was about 6 or 7 inches square, looked to me at the time like a extra large cooker switch back box, but i thought nothing of it.

so, I'm thinking that the original supply to the house came from the road, along the side of the house, looped down around the old outbuildings (which were where the conservatory is now) and back up into that box on the kitchen wall. that sound feasible?

So a few questions then i think:

is it possible to tell if the cable IS live (without killing myself or cutting it)
Assuming its no longer used, i can just pour concrete on top?
If it were to be live, can i protect it and pour concrete on top (perhaps a duct around it?)

thanks again
 

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So a few questions then i think:

Please don't mess about with this, it can kill.

If you don't want to speak to the DNO what about an electrician? Do you have one lined up for the works to the conservatory that you can ask?

Perhaps ask for advice in the electrical forum?
 
He's not messing with it, hes just going to go take the switch off the wall and put a voltage meter (multi-meter on the ends of the naked wires) and he'll have his answer!

Is this a wind up? What's that got to do with the cable outside?
 

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