I hope someone can help with this as I'm stumped. It's raining hard at the moment and I've just noticed that water is slowly dripping out of the main fuse box and a small black box next to it. By fuse box I mean the grey box that the main electricity company cable feeds into and which is sealed by them. The cable feeding in at the top Of the box is bone dry and I've checked it up in the loft and there's no damp anywhere. There's a black box next to the fuse box, also sealed, into which the second main cable goes, and the same drip is happening there. I just can't see how the water is getting there. My only conclusion is that somehow water is getting into this cable outside the house and travelling,maybe by some hydrostatic process all the way along but INSIDE the cable (about 4 metres), before dripping down through these boxes. This sounds far fetched but it's all that I can think of. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? By the way, it's only clear water dripping out, not pitch or tar, and the cable looks pretty old. Any advice would be very welcome.
Water drip from main fuse box
- Thread starter RegB
- Start date
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Pick up the phone
Dial the emergency number for your DNO, your DNO not your supplier. If you do not know the number it WILL be on your bill
or here
http://www.energynetworks.org/info/emergencies/power-cuts-telephone-numbers.html
Do it NOW
Do not pass go
When you have confirmed you have done that we can explain what is going on!
Dial the emergency number for your DNO, your DNO not your supplier. If you do not know the number it WILL be on your bill
or here
http://www.energynetworks.org/info/emergencies/power-cuts-telephone-numbers.html
Do it NOW
Do not pass go
When you have confirmed you have done that we can explain what is going on!
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Post some pictures!!
After, calling, of course!
Maybe you could team up with TheGoverner who has electricity coming out of his shower.
Once you've done that, he will have your water coming out of his shower and you will have his electricity in the cables....
After, calling, of course!
Maybe you could team up with TheGoverner who has electricity coming out of his shower.
Once you've done that, he will have your water coming out of his shower and you will have his electricity in the cables....
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I'm guessing you have an overhead supply, out side the building at some point the rain will be getting into the cable at a connecting point.
This will then run down the strands of the cable within what (again I'm guessing a bit) will be a PVC sheath.
More modern cables are classed as "wet" cables as they can fill with water without causing a fault, though if the water appears at a termination it can be an issue
This will then run down the strands of the cable within what (again I'm guessing a bit) will be a PVC sheath.
More modern cables are classed as "wet" cables as they can fill with water without causing a fault, though if the water appears at a termination it can be an issue
Thanks for that info guitar and westie. That all makes sense. Anyway, the engineer has rung back to say he'll be here in an hour, so I guess I'll find out then. I'm pretty impressed with the response speed, especially as it's blowing a real storm at the moment here.
westie, out of interest ... if your guess is correct, what is the usual 'cure'? Replace the cable, or what?
Kind Regards, John
Generally that may be the only way as the water will be in there so even if the other end is sealed it will continue to drip for some time.
We have done it by just replacing the last section into the property if it is a long run.
Often, though, the first fix is to see if it can be sealed at the cutout end
Not on a main supply, but ive encountered similar twice.
Once in a pub dripping into a fusebox, followed cable up two floors to the swa cable entering the bottom of a box, on the roof, opened the Ip 65 box and found full of rain water and acting as a funnel to feed into the cable.
Second time from an Fp200 cable dripping into a fuseboard located in a celler, followed up and where the cable come out into the yard the sun had cracked the oversheathing, low enough to be submerged in a puddle of rain water.
In both cases the water had passed through at least 20 metres of cables some of which clipped horizontally
Once in a pub dripping into a fusebox, followed cable up two floors to the swa cable entering the bottom of a box, on the roof, opened the Ip 65 box and found full of rain water and acting as a funnel to feed into the cable.
Second time from an Fp200 cable dripping into a fuseboard located in a celler, followed up and where the cable come out into the yard the sun had cracked the oversheathing, low enough to be submerged in a puddle of rain water.
In both cases the water had passed through at least 20 metres of cables some of which clipped horizontally
I've seen it on co-ax cable
The oddest one I had was in a local town and a call to a loss of supply at a local nightclub!
Found that two of the 315A main fuses had operated, and signs of dampness around the main board with a 400A incomer. the incomer was opened but would not re-close.
It turned out that they had had a stage act on the previous night that included a scantly clad female dancing in a see through pool of water on the stage.
A lot of it had splashed over the side, ran down the wall to the distribution board directly below!
Found that two of the 315A main fuses had operated, and signs of dampness around the main board with a 400A incomer. the incomer was opened but would not re-close.
It turned out that they had had a stage act on the previous night that included a scantly clad female dancing in a see through pool of water on the stage.
A lot of it had splashed over the side, ran down the wall to the distribution board directly below!
Common to see (mainly UG) SWA cables were the armours are rotted due to damage during installation.
I have also opened a cat5e point to find the box full of moisture. This was tracking down the paper wrap around the cores, under the black tough sheath of this cable - It had been run in guttering, and was damaged.
Also common to see it on aerial installations were foam filled cable has not been used, just cheapy air-spaced.
I have also opened a cat5e point to find the box full of moisture. This was tracking down the paper wrap around the cores, under the black tough sheath of this cable - It had been run in guttering, and was damaged.
Also common to see it on aerial installations were foam filled cable has not been used, just cheapy air-spaced.
Did you tell them that you needed to see the cause of the fault recreated for your report?
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