Correctly closing off a dead twin and earth cable in a loft.

[Always learnin]

Correctly closing off a dead twin and earth cable in a loft.

My old house used to have radial circuits serving night storage heaters. Those radials came from a dedicated consumer unit in the garage which has now been removed and all cables from it are now dead. Each night storage heater was served by a single 2.5mm twin and earth cable. Where possible those cables (or large sections of them) in the loft space have been cut off and removed, but that leaves "ends" where cables cannot be pulled out of walls etc in the loft.

So my question is:
Is there a "correct" way to terminate these old dead cables so that it's obvious to anyone later what they are and that they are dead?

My thoughts are to cut the copper back to the sleeve on both live and negative, make each end of live and negative a different length and fold them back over the outer grey cable sheath. Then with red electricians tape wind it round over everything and mark the outer grey sheath as "Dead" with a date. See pic.

I'm probably going over the top as usual but I want to do it right. Any suggestions are gratefully received. Thank you

 

[littlespark]

Unless you think you might use them again… (fitting a socket where there was a heater) then pulling out all the dead cable is advisable, although not so easy if it’s clipped along it’s length.

What you suggest is a good idea…. Actually marking the cable as dead, and additionally, what it used to supply.

 

[wheeto]

Interesting question. The cables no longer form part of the electrical installation, so there's no requirement to do anything at all with them.

Having said that, I like your suggestion of writing a notice on them, maybe even saying where the other end is and why they were taken out of services (eg not because an IR test failed).

 

[telectrix]

Just label as dead with a sharpie. Be an idea to number both ends so you know which is which in case of future use.

 

[brianmoooore]

The safest way to leave the end of a dead cable is to strip back 30mm of insulation off of each conductor and then twist it all together with the earth. Anyone deciding to re energise the cable without testing will soon realise that it's not a good idea.