moving bt wire

[thegravy]

hi

my fascia board has rotted on the front of my house and I need to replace this along with new guttering, there is a bt line from a telegraph pole attached to the rotting fascia/soffitt, am i allowed to move this??

thanks in advance for any advice

cheers

D

 

[alphaalarms]

i had the same problem years ago! if the cable is before the master socket.... which it will be, its not yours to touch, there for you have to pay bt to move it! i moved it any way as it was on my house and i was happy

 

[plugwash]

You aren't supposed to touch it but unless you break something BT are extremely unlikely to do anything and even if you do the most they are likely to do is charge you for fixing it.

is the hook that the wire attaches to before crossing the road attached to the rotten woodwork? (it shouldn't be but sometimes is) . If so there is the safety aspect to consider. working with long hanging wires at height can be very dangerous especially if all you have to stand on is a ladder.

 

[bernardgreen]

there is the safety aspect to consider. working with long hanging wires at height can be very dangerous especially if all you have to stand on is a ladder.

Very true and if the wire crosses a public highway even more dangerous. Best to get BT to come an move it as they have public liability insurance for any accidents the wire may cause if it falls across the highway. Not that they will let it drop.

If you move it yourself fit a secure anchor point to brick work and lash the cable to that BEFORE doing anything else. That will reduce the risk of the cable pulling you backwards of the ladder if it rips out of the rotting timber before you expect it to come loose.

 

[TicklyT]

NEVER attempt to tension a dropwire from the house end. Engineers AWAYS tension them from the pole end, where they have a fixed, stable work area and they securely anchor themselves with a pole belt.
That puts them in a good position to put considerable tension on the dropwire.

Imagine a tug-of-war. One man firmly harnessed, hauling with both arms. You are on a ladder with your back to your opponent trying to pull back over your shoulder with one hand whilst clinging to your ladder..... I think we can all guess who will win!

Some ex-engineers tried tensioning dropwires from the house end. They became ex-everything around about the time they hit the ground.

the tension of a dropwire may have increased significantly since it was first installed as other wiring is added to the distribution pole

 

[simonpolly]

From someone who regular works with dropwire you should not attempt to tension it from a ladder,also dropwire clamps are tricky if your not used to working with them,bt openreach will move it but obviously will charge.(also if the wire crosses a carriageway the dropwire needs to be over 5.2m from the road and when put up new it needs to be 5.9m min.)