Finding potential lethal c*ck ups from previous owners

[Spark123]

in the house we bought RCD test button and RCD button had been glued so they could not trip.

The laughable bit is, modern RCDs have a mechanism so that they cannot be held up so if they do trip, the lever has to go fully down before it can reset.
Glueing just the lever up would stop you from going through the reset sequence but would not stop it tripping on an earth fault.

 

[kevsterdiy]

there is however doubt in the kitchen where two cupboard are joined and mounted on the wall.

How could i get a sparky to check this without removed said cupboards - is there a way?

Unless you can find one with x-ray vision, all one could do is the same as you - remove sockets & lift floors and see where the cables run.

Out of curiosity is there, any way of testing what a circuit can handle rather than check all wires for actual damage? ie if the repairs are done to my suspect cable can the ring be checked for handling 32A to find out if the ring has been broken anywhere from another diy error in the past?

 

[kevsterdiy]

Last socket it comes from is above and across a bit on landing the other way its under the bath and across to the next one in kitchen (i think) only had some floor up.

That doesn't sound like it follows an acceptable route...

Are these crimps standard - ie like the ones sued in automotive?

Yes, but you must use a ratchet crimper to apply them, not the cheap old squeeze'n'hope ones sold for car use.

With 2.5sq cable obviously the blue '2.5' crimps followed by heat sink for full insulation?
It was quite concerning to find crimps in my CU when i hadn't seen them before with thought it could of been someone who fits barry boy subs in cars had a go - however these in the CU are not heat shrunk just insulated crimps.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Out of curiosity is there, any way of testing what a circuit can handle rather than check all wires for actual damage? ie if the repairs are done to my suspect cable can the ring be checked for handling 32A to find out if the ring has been broken anywhere from another diy error in the past?

The standard tests for a ring will identify any breaks, and will verify continuity of all the conductors, and that their resistances are what's expected, relative to each other, and that the insulation resistance is OK.

But if someone has wired a section of the circuit in cable that's too small, or has created a hidden nick in one of the cores then testing won't pick that up.

 

[kevsterdiy]

I have finally got round to investigating the damage. luckily the top rawl plug hole has only left a slight whitness mark on the outer Grey insulation the lower nail hole the same. The third hole, the other rawl plug has damaged the Grey insulation but not the red of the live conductor's insulation. Phew.

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[Click-Sure]

I keep meaning to go around with my voltage indicator and see if I can find any live screws or brackets in peoples kitchens. Found evidence of a few.

A theory. (don't try this at home kids)
Suppose if you really wanted to test a cable run you could run a simulated load on it and go around with an infra-red camera (seen them in PE, but not seen them used) and look for hot spots.
Then again thats hit and miss with the thickness of plaster covering the cable thending to vary a fair bit.