External junction box - gland nut seized

[SplanK]

Hi all
I purchased a house which has had an external electrical spur installed.

I am looking at installing some automation kit to control the external lights independently and I opened up one of the boxes I suspected was dealing with the wiring for said lights. I was correct, however to my horror noticed ingress. Soil had built up around it and has got in.

This is probably something to do with the fact 3 of the 4 screws holding the lid shut has snapped captive nuts - great! Remove and replace of the box is needed.

I noticed at the bottom where the feed comes in is a gland nut, however its seized solid. I have bunged some WD40 on it left it 30 mins and still no movement. For now, I have closed the lid best I can, removed the fuse from the spur and wrapped some gaffa tape around it until I can figure out my next steps before I create a further problem for myself!

These gland nuts, do they grip onto the cable in any way? I am thinking as the box is scrap, I could just remove the box from the wall, and the gland and seal should simply slide over the cable? But if it grips tightly onto the cable then that wont work?

Pic: Feed from the bottom is the "input". To the left is a feed out to a set of lights. As you can see, the box is in a bit of a sorry state

Thanks

 

[canduit]

If it is swa cable then yes, it is gripped by the gland. If you don't have the correct tool, it can be awkward to grip inner nut. Try tapping it anti clockwise with an old chisel or slotted screwdriver. They're brass so hopefully not too corroded.

 

[SplanK]

Just my luck! Yep, swa cable.

Thanks for your reply. I will let the wd40 sit on it for a bit and attack it again later! Not having the correct tool won't help either!

 

[canduit]

You might get a normal spanner in there. It's worth getting the remainder of the cable poking out checked out as moisture may have gotten into the steel armour strands etc. This requires a bit of skill though so worth asking someone who knows. Can the cable maybe be pulled out of ground a bit, thus enabling you to mount enclosure a bit higher?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You might struggle to replace the gland if it's damaged, or becomes damaged, or if the cable armour is corroded and needs cutting back.

 

[securespark]

Yeah, it looks like it could be the wrong gland. You will need to replace it with a weatherproof one.

If there is any slack attainable on that feed in, you could do with raising it further from the soil. If that isn't possible, dig out the soil so the gland is not buried.

If you are struggling to remove it, as the box is plastic, you could break it up to get it off.

EDIT, apologies, Canduit.. I was dawdling while writing my post.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Here is a video guide on how an SWA gland goes together, and how to assemble it. This may help your understanding of what you are playing with.
The video goes through the whole process. It would be great if you looked at all of it (!) but the basic assembly bit starts at about 15 minutes.
Better than watching the footy…

 

[333rocky333]

The steel locknut reacts with the brass gland making it tight, sometimes tapping the locknut round anticlockwise with an old screwdriver and hammer works, failing that cutting the side of the locknut will free it and leave the gland reusable.

failing that undo the lower gland section under the black shroud to free the armour, then slide the assembly and box off together

 

[SplanK]

Thanks all. I did attempt to give it a whack a few moments ago with a screwdriver and hammer but again stuck fast.

The video was usefull. I will clear another day to take a good attempt at it so I have time to finish it. Although I am considering getting a pro in.

Thanks

 

[conny]

As Rocky says, release the lower nut inside the black shroud.
You can then pull the cable through the gland. As you are fitting a new box it is pointless to struggle with the present gland.
New external glands for swa are cheap enough to replace.

 

[sparkwright]

I wonder if all else fails you could bodge it?

Maybe if the worst comes to the worst you could cut away the old box, leaving a neat strip of plastic round the gland.

Then drop a new box over the gland, remaining piece of plastic, seized locknut.

THEN fit a new locknut over all this, assuming there's enough thread on the gland.

I have been in a similar situation, but I did use WD40, left it a good few minutes, built up some aggression, and managed to loosen the thing in a sudden burst of energy, nearly rupturing myself...

 

[SplanK]

The other bodge I thought of was to silicone the lid on! Your solution sounds good, however there is not enough thread on the gland

if I disconnected the wiring and remove the terminal ring, I could get better access, but I didn't want to do too much today as I didn't have the time to fix a bigger mess!

I will dig out the rest of the gland from under the soil and see what I have to deal with and maybe attack it from below. Cost of replacement is £3.30 from B&Q so not a huge amount. WD40 isn't the best fluid for this job either, might see if I can get my hands on something better first before getting to drastic.

 

[sparkwright]

Is there anything left of the back box to screw some longer, self tapping, screws in place to hold the lid on?

 

[333rocky333]

The locknut is only rusty steel, if you drill small holes in it first then you can easily split it open, if your carefull you can even cut the thing off with a dremel

 

[SplanK]

Not sure, but I don't think there was anything substantial for a self tapper to grip onto. Chances are these boxes are circa 10 years old so have become a little brittle.

I did consider attempting to split it, will keep it in mind.