Cable connections/junction box- slight emergency

[drives]

Morning all,

We have an ASHP (with HW cylinder) and over the last day or so the hot water hasn't been working properly, hence this being slightly urgent. On our control display the temp reading was all over the place so I immediately suspected a wiring issue with the temp sensor that runs from the cylinder to the heat pump.

This morning I have gone outside to inspect the outside wiring/connections as inside looked all ok.

Sure enough the junction box outside was full of water and the two wagos near the bottom (which were submerged in water/the cover shows where the water line was) are the ones for the temp probe.

I assume this is some kind of cat? cable? Can I just carefully strip it back and apply a new wago? Clearly there is a water ingress issue which looks to be the top inlet for the conduit. Ordinarily I'd do a load of googling today but I just thought I'd reach out to the experts on here as we have no HW until this is fixed. What should I be looking at here firstly- new junction box? How are the conduit holes normally sealed to prevent water ingress etc. I would be massively appreciative of any assistance.

 

[Murdochcat]

Let it dry out, turn it back on and also ( before turning it back on) drill a 6 mm drain hole in the lower face so water can drain out.

In the ideal world you never use the upward connection to bring a cable or conduit in to the enclosure

That’s a pretty poor installation to say the least

 

[drives]

Let it dry out, turn it back on and also ( before turning it back on) drill a 6 mm drain hole in the lower face so water can drain out.

In the ideal world you never use the upward connection to bring a cable or conduit in to the enclosure

That’s a pretty poor installation to say the least

Thank you. The original installers were indeed poor beyond belief. So many issues, but that is another story.

To fix properly I then need to adjust the top conduit to enter the junction box on the horizontal? Even with the drainage hole the water will still drip along the cables entering the top, no?

 

[Murdochcat]

My suggestion is really to get you up and running quickly.

 

[sparkwright]

Ideally you need both flexible conduits to enter the bottom of a new junction box.

 

[sparkwright]

Take a picture further back, so we can see the all of the flexible conduits.
We can advise you how to relocate a new junction box so the conduits can possibly be moved, with minimal disruption.
The end fittings for flexible conduit are NOT watertight, so need to be at the bottom, with a small drainage hole drilled in the correct place on the box.

EDIT. Just seen the cat5e cable running straight through the box - which makes things even harder.
so send a pic.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

How old is the installation? Could you get the installers back under warranty to do it properly?

 

[drives]

Thanks all. This forum is brill ....

Firstly, been spending the last hour getting it back up and running as suggested, quickly. All is well now with the hot water, connections redone with new wagos (luckily I have plenty of those in the garage), and I've drilled a couple of drainage holes.

The installers- it is under warranty technically but a quick summary is no. It all went a bit sour. A plethora of reasons with this being a good example of the sort of thing that was evident throughout the work completed.

Pictures as below. Understood regarding bottom entry and yes there is a Cat5e cable which connects the ASHP to the indoor control panel.

I guess I could move the junction box up 150mm or so to allow for bottom entry, and then get new 25mm conduit for the existing horizontal run (as that will be a bit too short if I move the box up). Would that be the best bet? Just out of shot to the left is the unit itself.

 

[flameport]

Possible alternative fix is these or one of the other sizes: https://www.toolstation.com/raytech-happy-gel-box-ip68/p68760
fit over the Wago connectors inside the existing box.

 

[sparkwright]

Are you able to disconnect the grey cat5e cable that runs through the box at one end, so you can re-route it through your new, altered conduit?

 

[sparkwright]

Can where the top and lefthand conduits actually go to, in case water is also getting in there?

 

[martygturner]

or you could just gel pack it.

 

[drives]

Are you able to disconnect the grey cat5e cable that runs through the box at one end, so you can re-route it through your new, altered conduit?

Yes that shouldn't be a problem. It will just be going to the low voltage connections on the ashp so I can just open up the access panel I think, and disconnect the wires. The other ends of the conduit are good. One goes through the cavity wall into the loft and there's no water ingress there. The other as above goes to the unit and that looks fine.

 

[drives]

or you could just gel pack it.

Thanks- do you mean the things that flameport has linked above?

 

[martygturner]

https://www.toolstation.com/raytech-magic-gel-ip68/p47003 pour it into the box and fill the box.