Been helping a fellow spark out on a job today in Somerset. The house was previously used to grow cannabis after being let to some dodgy fake tenants who then ripped it to bits and installed all the growing kit.
The house was raided and its taken the landlord until now to start repairs as his insurance wouldnt cover the damage as he quote 'did not carry out due diligence in his decision to let the house' so has had to fidn money from elsewhere.
We spent the day ripping out all the electrics and off to the scrap yard it went.
The people in question had by passed the meter straight into a CU which had 8 40amp breakers for all the kit for growing.
The police have been ages ago and taken all the stuff away and western power have disconnected the supply.
Before taking out the stuff i decided to do a IR test on some of the cables and surprisingly they held up quite well for the likely loads they had previously. got reading in excess of 500Mohms. was expecting it to be at deaths door due to the loadings from heaters and lights. they had only used 4mm throughout.
on the edges of some of the cables in the CU though there were faint black scorch marks, so not sure how much longer it would have lasted without going up... I guess the vietnamese gangs dont follow part p and are not scam members...
there must be 100s of these houses around the UK... its only a matter of time before one catches fire and causes chaos.
The house though has loads of mould on walls and floors from all the previous moisture and warmth.. it needs stripping to the bare walls and redoing from scratch...
Anybody else dealt with the aftermath of one of these grow houses? id be interested to know just what loads they pull with all the lamps, heaters and ventilation kit....
The house was raided and its taken the landlord until now to start repairs as his insurance wouldnt cover the damage as he quote 'did not carry out due diligence in his decision to let the house' so has had to fidn money from elsewhere.
We spent the day ripping out all the electrics and off to the scrap yard it went.
The people in question had by passed the meter straight into a CU which had 8 40amp breakers for all the kit for growing.
The police have been ages ago and taken all the stuff away and western power have disconnected the supply.
Before taking out the stuff i decided to do a IR test on some of the cables and surprisingly they held up quite well for the likely loads they had previously. got reading in excess of 500Mohms. was expecting it to be at deaths door due to the loadings from heaters and lights. they had only used 4mm throughout.
on the edges of some of the cables in the CU though there were faint black scorch marks, so not sure how much longer it would have lasted without going up... I guess the vietnamese gangs dont follow part p and are not scam members...
there must be 100s of these houses around the UK... its only a matter of time before one catches fire and causes chaos.
The house though has loads of mould on walls and floors from all the previous moisture and warmth.. it needs stripping to the bare walls and redoing from scratch...
Anybody else dealt with the aftermath of one of these grow houses? id be interested to know just what loads they pull with all the lamps, heaters and ventilation kit....
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