hi can anyone give me any advice, as i cant get i contact with my electrician with it being bank holiday weekend. Just installed a new kitchen and had to box in various pipes beneath the boiler. Before drilling the fixing holes for the boxing in i checked the wall with a electric charge and stud detector but it seemed to not pick anything up, then when i drilled through a loud bang and sparks! did'nt feel any electric shock and the drill is still working fine. Checked all the electrics in the flat appliances, mains etc and all working fine too. But when using the shower this moring i got several slight shocks which i can only describe as like static shocks which you get sometimes from door handles. Am at a loss at the moment as am waiting to tile the wall in the kitchen but don't want to start in case someone has to get in to remedy the problem and damage the new tiles. Any advice?
Drilled through a wire believed to be a earth wire?help plz!
- Thread starter starsky
- Start date
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Completely agree with Adam. Turn off all the power until you know which circuit is damaged.
Don't use the shower until this is fixed (if it is an electric one, turn it off at the consumer unit) as wet bodies are very prone to fatal electric shock edited to say, even if you haven't had one yet.
For info, circuits can appear to work even when they have been damaged, the most common reason is on a ring circut, where you can break the ring but there is still supply coming in from both sides, so that sockets still work despite the damage.
Does your installation have an RCD with a Test button in the consumer unit/fusebox?
Like Adam says, if you strip off the plaster around the drilled hole, you will be able to see what's happened.
Don't use the shower until this is fixed (if it is an electric one, turn it off at the consumer unit) as wet bodies are very prone to fatal electric shock edited to say, even if you haven't had one yet.
For info, circuits can appear to work even when they have been damaged, the most common reason is on a ring circut, where you can break the ring but there is still supply coming in from both sides, so that sockets still work despite the damage.
Does your installation have an RCD with a Test button in the consumer unit/fusebox?
Like Adam says, if you strip off the plaster around the drilled hole, you will be able to see what's happened.
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its a main wire, wanted to upload a pic but cant work out how? anyone know of any connectors i can buy to connect the wire from where i drilled to the other end?
go to www.imageshack.us
click browse, find the file on your computer / external drive, and click upload.
Then it will display links to the image on th'internet, copy one of those into a post here, preferably the "direct link to image" at the bottom, and then we can see it.
click browse, find the file on your computer / external drive, and click upload.
Then it will display links to the image on th'internet, copy one of those into a post here, preferably the "direct link to image" at the bottom, and then we can see it.
Is there anything that doesn't work? if not then its the ring (looks the right size) did nothing trip out when this happened? how are the circuits protected? rewireable fuses? or breakers?
Is this cable horzonally or vertically inline with any electricial accessory, if it isn't then it shouldn't have been there for precisely this reason! if it is, then sorry to say that you should have forseen its possible existance before drilling...
One possible way of fixing it would be to sink a patress into the wall, join it in there and cover with a blank plate, I'd probably make it a double as there is not going to be enough cable there to join and your are going to have to insert some small lengths to make the join, I'd probably use crimps with a rachet crimper, (blue for the live conductors, red for the CPCs) but 30A choc blocks will surfice (but make sure that it is accessable)
[btw. the blank plate will count as an accessory, so if its not already in zones, it will be
]
The other way of fixing it is to install a new cable, making sure that its in allowed zones
Is this cable horzonally or vertically inline with any electricial accessory, if it isn't then it shouldn't have been there for precisely this reason! if it is, then sorry to say that you should have forseen its possible existance before drilling...
One possible way of fixing it would be to sink a patress into the wall, join it in there and cover with a blank plate, I'd probably make it a double as there is not going to be enough cable there to join and your are going to have to insert some small lengths to make the join, I'd probably use crimps with a rachet crimper, (blue for the live conductors, red for the CPCs) but 30A choc blocks will surfice (but make sure that it is accessable)
[btw. the blank plate will count as an accessory, so if its not already in zones, it will be
]The other way of fixing it is to install a new cable, making sure that its in allowed zones
you said "pipes below the boiler".
If you follow the direction of the cable left and right, is there a socket or spur or anything at either (or both) side? If so this can make the repair easier. How far to the nearest wiring accessory?
Is that just a sheathed cable I can see, or is there any plastic conduit around it?
If you follow the direction of the cable left and right, is there a socket or spur or anything at either (or both) side? If so this can make the repair easier. How far to the nearest wiring accessory?
Is that just a sheathed cable I can see, or is there any plastic conduit around it?
hi john D, there is a double socket to the left but the mains are coming up to it from the floor, i assume the wire i have drilled is from where they connected a previous socket up and later removed as it leads to nothing. Is it alright to connect a double plug socket where the hole in the wire is?
thanx
thanx
If the socket to the left is not far, chase out the damaged piece of cable all the way to the socket and disconnect it there.
The other piece either goes nowhere (in which case you do not need to do anything with it) or else, it does go somwhere. In which case, running a new piece of 2.5 T&E from the socket will mean you can make it long enough to give you slack to join the ends. If this piece goes off in a spur, you can't put another socket in it. If it is part of the ring, you can.
Please describe (or photograph) what you find in the double socket to the left.
Cut open the sheathing of the damaged cable and separate the cores, preferably also put them in choc connector or something; so: they don't touch each other; you don't touch them; you can safely test them with your meter to see if they are live.
We haven't yet established why you got shocks off your shower. This is very worrying as it can be fatal. Is it an electric shower? Is it on an RCD? Do you know if the bathroom has good supplementary bonding?
If you aren't familiar with the terms, no probs, please ask.
The other piece either goes nowhere (in which case you do not need to do anything with it) or else, it does go somwhere. In which case, running a new piece of 2.5 T&E from the socket will mean you can make it long enough to give you slack to join the ends. If this piece goes off in a spur, you can't put another socket in it. If it is part of the ring, you can.
Please describe (or photograph) what you find in the double socket to the left.
Cut open the sheathing of the damaged cable and separate the cores, preferably also put them in choc connector or something; so: they don't touch each other; you don't touch them; you can safely test them with your meter to see if they are live.
We haven't yet established why you got shocks off your shower. This is very worrying as it can be fatal. Is it an electric shower? Is it on an RCD? Do you know if the bathroom has good supplementary bonding?
If you aren't familiar with the terms, no probs, please ask.
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