I recently did some electrical rearrangements/additions etc for a kitchen fitter in a kitchen renovation. He called while tiling friday to say his lad just got a shock and it threw him across the room - while he was grouting ! He said the tiles were live and could I come and sort it out - he was clearly of the opinion it was something I had caused. I did suggest that he may have drilled or nailed thru a cable, but he vehemently denied this.
When I got there he said you get a shock when you touch the wall and the sink, (he'd carried on working despite me telling him to turn off the supply at the main switch
!)
Using a volt stick it was apparent he was right - it glowed anywhere on the newly tiled wall from a distance of a foot or so away, all over the wall, and in the bathroom the other side ! I was able to isolate the fault to one circuit, went into the loft and measured entries of cables dropping into the kitchen, and sure enough there was one exactly in line with the wall unit bracket he'd fixed with 2" no 12s ! On removal of the cabinet and chopping away the plaster it was apparent that he'd gone through the capping, nicked just the live and the capping had become live, the capping dropped behind the splashback tiling where the combination of wet adhesive and grout seemed to be conducting very well !!
(obviously the main bonding on the cold water supply provided a good circuit via the sink )
Having made the repairs (routed the cable in a safe zone and crimped etc) it occurred to me that if the sticky and grout had dried before his lad had got a belt, it would probably not have been discovered until someone
went to remove the cupboard in the future on a wobbly crate or steps!
ps. the volt stick was very useful for fault finding in this case, and they are reduced to 4.99 in maplin !
When I got there he said you get a shock when you touch the wall and the sink, (he'd carried on working despite me telling him to turn off the supply at the main switch
!)Using a volt stick it was apparent he was right - it glowed anywhere on the newly tiled wall from a distance of a foot or so away, all over the wall, and in the bathroom the other side ! I was able to isolate the fault to one circuit, went into the loft and measured entries of cables dropping into the kitchen, and sure enough there was one exactly in line with the wall unit bracket he'd fixed with 2" no 12s ! On removal of the cabinet and chopping away the plaster it was apparent that he'd gone through the capping, nicked just the live and the capping had become live, the capping dropped behind the splashback tiling where the combination of wet adhesive and grout seemed to be conducting very well !!
(obviously the main bonding on the cold water supply provided a good circuit via the sink
)Having made the repairs (routed the cable in a safe zone and crimped etc) it occurred to me that if the sticky and grout had dried before his lad had got a belt, it would probably not have been discovered until someone
went to remove the cupboard in the future on a wobbly crate or steps!
ps. the volt stick was very useful for fault finding in this case, and they are reduced to 4.99 in maplin !
