Looped services

[morg]

Hi, Looking for some advice !

I have been informed (by national grid callout, main fuse blown) that I have a looped services on the cut-out.

But what's confusing me is that the neighbours already have an overhead line attached to their property, in fact every house on the street does.

I'm curious because they say I can have my meter moved for free if I do indeed have a looped service
Cheers for any help

 

[morg]

Dead fuse was 80A forgot to mention.

 

[JohnW2]

I have been informed (by national grid callout, main fuse blown) that I have a looped services on the cut-out. ... But what's confusing me is that the neighbours already have an overhead line attached to their property, in fact every house on the street does.

That cutout in your photo does appear to have two cables entering its bottom (which is would if the supply were looped), but if neighbouring households were each getting their supplies from their own overhead cables, there should be no need for anything to be looped.

The most likely explanation would seem to be that something has 'changed' at some point in time, making something else redundant - i.e. either one of your neighbour's overhead cables is not connected to anything, and they are getting their supply looped from yours (which seems like a very improbable 'direction of change') OR ELSE all of your neighbours are now getting there supplies from an overhead cable and a previous looped supply from yours is no longer connected to anything (i.e. no longer being used).

Unfortunately, from where we are we could not determine which of those (or some other explanation) is the more/most likely!

Kind Regards, John

 

[morg]

Many thanks John for your post Cheers

Good point on the neighbours overhead line being redundant, I never thought of that it could be the case

But yeah it will be interesting to find out if the loop is live or not

Cheers

 

[JohnW2]

Good point on the neighbours overhead line being redundant, I never thought of that it could be the case

Yes, but as I said, that would seem a very improbable 'direction of change' (i.,e. changing from a dedicated overhead supply to one looped from a neighbour, particular give that those cables entering the bottom of your cutout look as if they have both been there for a long time.

Of the two possibilities I mentioned, I therefor think that the other one is far the more likely - that it was once a looped supply but that your neighbours now have their own overhead supplies - in which case it would be the 'loop cable' coming out of your cutout that would have 'become redundant'.

But yeah it will be interesting to find out if the loop is live or not

Your end may still be live,even if the cable has become redundant - I presume that someone will have to try to find the other end of the cable and determine whether or not it is connected to something.

Kind Regards, John

 

[morg]

Great thanks John for the post

That does make sense thanks, will assume it's still live then

There is a farmland / house directly behind our house, however the distance is approx 160m, could it be possible it's running to that property over that distance?

Thanks for the help

 

[JohnW2]

That does make sense thanks, will assume it's still live then

If, at the time of some change, someone had disconnected a second cable (the 'outgoing' one, if it were part of a looped supply), then I would have thought that they would probably have also removed the cable (or, at lest, part of it). So, since it's still there, I would suspect that it probably is still connected, hence quite possibly 'live'

There is a farmland / house directly behind our house, however the distance is approx 160m, could it be possible it's running to that property over that distance?

Oh! Is that your nearest neighbour? Maybe others have different experiences, but I've neve seen or heard of a 'looped' supply in which the 'loop' was more than a few feet long (usually adjacent/;joined' terraced or semi-detached properties) ... so I don't know. Is there any possibility the the cable once 'looped' (maybe still does) to another location within your property or land??

Kind Regards, John

 

[morg]

Great thanks John for the post

Yeah you'd think they would have removed the looped cable when they installed the overhead

Nearest neighbour is 5ft away, which is where the cutout is. No other buildings on land.

I'm getting the meter box moved to outside next few months, so will ask when they show up and report back

Cheers for the help

 

[bernardgreen]

however the distance is approx 160m, could it be possible it's running to that property over that distance?

It could be possible to have a "loop" to a property that far away.

Yeah you'd think they would have removed the looped cable when they installed the overhead

It is unlikely they would install new overhead to a property that already had a looped underground supply but not impossible

 

[morg]

Interesting thoughts cheers bernard

These handful of bungalows (about 15) were built circa 1968, I'm right in the middle to where the farmhouse is, so could be running to them.

I'll try and get a camera under cutout / enclosure

 

[morg]

Hi, I could do with some guidance please...

It turns out I had it wrong with the overhead cable, our overhead cables are telecoms. I think what confused me was that the opposite (older) properties do have overhead power cables.

Anyways, our electric service cable are underground and is indeed feeding our neighbour (looped supply).

I have asked them to remove the looped supply and move the meter box outside - They have quoted £1000, on the condition that I provide excavation works to expose the existing cable on our pathway. I think they said they would join/extend my existing cable underground, but completely replace the neighbours cable from the public footpath to their property.

I assume they would remove the loop free of charge, but obviously means keeping the meter/cut-out box where it is.

Current meter box is really ugly and draughty needs sorting (hole was sealed up with cardboard/sellotape by previous owner)
So I think my best option is to request they remove the looped supply (hopefully for free) and keep the existing meter inside (build door/cupboard over meter)

This would then allow me to request to disconnect the electric for a few hours or few days not a big deal as house unoccupied, while I rebuild internal wall and replace meter box with i.e. ABS enclosure.

Can everything be placed in one big ABS box? (cutout, smart meter, isolator, consumer unit) ?
Thanks for any help