I got a bit of a shock!

[junglistmatty]

Thankfully not an electric shock

Went up into my loft for the first time at the weekend as I'd like to move the loft access hatch, upon entering the loft I was met with a mess of wires and building rubbish presumably left from previous tradesmen; The previous owners had Sky; maybe from left from him? Anyway, I discovered this shocking bit of electrical "work"....


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Untitled

• junglistmatty
• 10 Feb 2015
• 1

I have absolutely no clue what was trying to be achieved here; maybe an attempt at securing a cable to a joist that has failed!?!?!? Either way I'm not touching it right now!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Somebody needs to touch it - it might be damaged.

 

[sparkwright]

As Ban says, someone needs to investigate.

Fot the sake of argument, I think we can assume that it is damaged and potentially very dangerous.

 

[ericmark]

Clearly it needs correcting and fast. The Emma Shaw case immediately comes to mind where a plasterer damaged a cable and it resulted in a death.

It is clearly not enough to just remove the screw the whole home needs testing to ensure there are no other hidden problems. Testing will not find them all but it will reduce the number and likely ensure if you follow the recommendations any remaining will be unlikely to harm you.

 

[stillp]

Somebody needs to touch it - it might be damaged.

"might be"

 

[ban-all-sheds]

As Ban says, someone needs to investigate.

Fot the sake of argument, I think we can assume that it is damaged and potentially very dangerous.

Looks like there's plenty of slack in the cable to be able to repair it using crimps or a junction box if replacement (FYI Matty, the best option) is not feasible.

It is clearly not enough to just remove the screw the whole home needs testing to ensure there are no other hidden problems.

A somewhat pessimistic view, but pessimism is much better than optimism when it comes to electrical safety. Who knows what else might have been done by the sort of person who would put a screw through the middle of a cable?

 

[plugwash]

The first thing I would suggest is to use an insulated tool to carefully remove the screw and tape things up. Ideally with the power off to all circuits likely to be in the vicinity (turning off the whole installation is likely to be impractical given that you will need some lighting). This is NOT a permanent fix but will make working in the vicinity less hazardous as you perform the investigation needed.

the next thing to do after that would be to figure out what circuit the cable is on, ideally by tracing it back to an accessory. If that is not possible then using a voltstick (non-contact voltage detector) while someone turns breakers on and off may be a possibility but be aware that voltsticks can be unreliable.

Once you know what it is for and what circuit it is on then you can start planning the repair.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The first thing I would suggest is to use an insulated tool to carefully remove the screw and tape things up.

That might leave a break in the cpc.

 

[plugwash]

I think that the risk of a break in the CPC from removing the screw (which I consider to be pretty small, I wouldn't expect a screw to sever a conductor) is a lesser evil than having a potentially live screw in the area where you are working to trace the cable.

 

[stillp]

I would suggest that the aim should be to replace that length of cable. If that is impossible without a risk of touching that screw then a couple of layers of tape would make it a bit less hazardous. I wouldn't remove it, since (a) as stated, there's a risk that it has broken the cpc, and (b) there's a risk of getting a shock while removing it.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

1) It cannot be replaced without all the usual safe-isolation-and-now-we-disconnect stuff.

2) It cannot be examined for damage without all the usual safe-isolation-and-now-we-cut-into-the-cable-to-look stuff.

Once (2) has been done it will need repairing anyway, or ideally replacing anyway.

I can see nothing to be gained, and potentially things to be lost, by fiddling with the screw before you're in a position to immediately replace or repair the cable.

It's not going anywhere, and as long as it's feasible for there to be no more journeys into the loft before the replace/repair exercise it's not going to pose a threat to anyone.

 

[stillp]

Unless of course it has broken the cpc.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Somebody needs to touch it - it might be damaged.

 

[eveares]

Isolate all circuits for optimum safety and use battery powered lights to light up the area; then cut the cable in half and install a maintenance free junction box of a suitable current rating.

Note: I say isolate all circuits in case you miss identify the circuit the cable is on and cut it thinking it's dead but is still live.

Also have you tried tracing the cable, as might just be a stretch of spare cable screwed to the joists going and connected to nothing.

When I had my extension done I found a few half meter sections of cable fixed to the joist connected to nothing.