Socket doesn't work...

[cannontrodder]

Hi all, bit of a lurker, first time poster

Just bought a new house and a few of the sockets are in a sorry state so have been replacing them.

One of them just doesn't work after replacing the front plate. There's two cables coming into the back box each with live, neutral and earth. Strikes me that there must be a fault with the cable - a break somewhere perhaps? All I have is a plug in socket tester and I get *nothing* from it when this socket is wired up.

I'm not really bothered about having a working socket there but do I need to identify *why* this isn't working or is terminating the cables and putting a blanking plate over it sufficient? L to L, N to N and earth to earth in strip connectors?

 

[deadshort]

Sounds as if you need to physically trace the cable back to its source, if you say the wiring is in need of an overhaul it may be a dodgy bodge job !

Regards,

DS

 

[kbdiy]

Obvious question perhaps - did the old one work before you removed it?

 

[cannontrodder]

The original socket did not work!

 

[deadshort]

I think a picture would help establish the vintage and if it was left over from previous life !

It's not a Storage Heater point that's been changed to a socket ?

Regards,

DS

 

[kbdiy]

Unlikely to be an old storage heater point if 2 cables I would have thought.

Based on your findings so far, my assumption is that neither cable is connected at the far end. If only one cable was faulty (and making the assumption this should be a ring) then you would still have a live socket, albeit a broken ring. Of course there could be a break in both cables but that seems less likely to me, however, not impossible.

Either way, some cable tracing required in case there is/ are damaged cables which could ultimately cause serious problems.

 

[cannontrodder]

It's definitely not an old storage heater, I know enough about the history to know it has been gas central heating only.

kbdiy, where you say the 'assumption' it should be a ring, I should be considering the possibility that this is a spur and the other cable is a spur off this one? Because if that was the case, I'd expect a possible fault in the initial spur but I'd also be seeing another socket that was dead.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I should be considering the possibility that this is a spur and the other cable is a spur off this one? Because if that was the case, I'd expect a possible fault in the initial spur

Or there's an FCU hidden somewhere which is turned off, or has a missing/blown fuse.

but I'd also be seeing another socket that was dead.

If it goes on to another socket. Maybe it did, and that's now gone, maybe it went to an appliance now gone - there are a number of scenarios one could speculate about.

But electrical-work-by-guessing is not a smart idea.

The fact that it was dead, and is dead shows that you can't have carried out proper safe isolation procedures before beginning work. In other words, you didn't know whether you had found the fuse/MCB for that socket or not, and you didn't know if it was supposed to be dead. It could therefore have come back to life whilst you were fiddling with it. Unlikely? Maybe, but as it could have killed you, how unlikely would you want it to be?

You need to trace the cables, and find out why they are dead. And if you need to do anything to them before you know, turn off your entire installation at the main switch, and handle them as if they were live.

 

[cannontrodder]

Hi ban-all-sheds,

I'd been turning everything off anyway, we've found lights on sockets circuits, upstairs lights on circuits labelled 'downstairs lights' so you can't trust anything.

Anyway, this socket was spurred off an adjacent one in another room which itself is spurred. The other cable coming into this socket disappears off downstairs and where that goes is anyone's guess.

The wiring going *into* the socket next door was actually blackened so I've completely removed the spur from that and terminated the cable powering that socket in a choc block for now and done the same with the cable going downstairs. I'm getting a professional in