rendering over overhead electric cables

[newbie99]

Hi,
I was wondering about rendering over overhead cables. The cables on my house run from my neighbours property along a wall. My cables have a metal shrouding over them then render. My neighbour has recently covered his but he has rendered straight to the cable. Is this legal and will it be ok or cause problems?

 

[westie101]

Yes it will if there ever is a fault on the cables.
Why didn't both of you contact the DNO who would have unclipped the cables FREE OF CHARGE whilst you rendered and then reclipped them FREE OF CHARGE

Think in the future if someone knocks a nail into a cable possibly protected by a 400A fuse, what would their chances of survival be?

 

[newbie99]

they didnt want the wires across the wall. Any house I have had that had overhead cables and roughcast has always had the wires encased in a metal cover was that wrong? will the render cause any problems to the wires without the cover as I dont want a fire?

 

[westie101]

will the render cause any problems to the wires without the cover as I dont want a fire?

If they have been damaged or were in poor condition to begin with, anything is possible!

Had the DNO been involved from the beginning they could have discussed options, in actual fact burying them may well be illegal in terms of the Electricity Act and ESQCR

 

[newbie99]

sorry to be a pest but will i be in trouble for mine wires being covered with the metal? I wanted to call the electric board as I have spoken to the neighbour who just shrugged his shoulders and doesnt want to know but I am worried that I might get into trouble for the metal cover on mine? My father is a retired builder who said that thats the way it has been done for years.

 

[westie101]

You won't be in trouble as such, but you have certainly not done anything to be helpful.

It's surprising how many builders seem to be experts in how the DNOs do stuff and are usually totally wrong and cost their clients lots of cash

 

[newbie99]

my neighbour who has just rendered over the wires is a builder.

 

[JohnD]

When I worked for a well-known electricity company we had someone who had drilled into the wall of an old country post office to fix a sign. The incoming electricity cable was on the wall and had been rendered over and hidden. The builder fell off his ladder. Lucky, otherwise he would have been even more badly burned.

The cable continued to flare like a Roman candle for more than half an hour as it burned away inside the wall.

AFAIK the building did not burn down, but the fire brigade would not have squirted water on it if it had.

The incomer is effectively unfused and carries a lot of energy and does not have a switch. This is why you are forbidden to render over it.

 

[sparkwright]

Can't say I like the idea of this cable being rendered over.

Would certainly have preferred the cable to be unclipped and then reclipped after the rendering was done (by the DNO of course).

Is it obvious that the cable is concealed?

By that I mean can you see the cable emerging from the render at any point, or is it well and truly covered?

It's not the sort of thing anyone wants to accidently drill through in the future.

I wonder if there is a policy the DNO have for this sort of thing. Cables must get rendered over from time to time. Surely the DNO wouldn't start hacking the render off.

Is there a way the DNO could fit a new cable (surface mounted) for free, if they were fobbed off into believing the render was there for years, and that the old cable is dangerous buried out of sight?

Sounds like your neighbour couldn't care less - typical builder mentality.

I hate the idea of main supply cables and tails buried in render or plaster, just below the surface. It's a mine field.

 

[sparkwright]

Show your neighbour this thread.

You may want us to make a few edits where we've mentioned him.

Perhaps the DNO could dig out the render, and you make good. I guess this may be free.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Why should he have to make good when it is his neighbour who has buried the cables?

 

[westie101]

The DNO would fit new cables and abandon the old ones in the render

 

[sparkwright]

What sort of response can newbie99 expect if he contacts the DNO, and says the cables have been rendered over, with no protection?

Will they be interested?

 

[westie101]

Will they be interested

We would be so suspect WPD will also, it won't be treated as an emergency but it will get visited I would have thought

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What sort of response can newbie99 expect if he contacts the DNO, and says the cables have been rendered over, with no protection?

From the DNO?

Or from his arrogant pig of a neighbour after he gets grief from the DNO because he was the one who rendered over the cables?