Terminate live feed from tiled floor?

[Vigman]

Hi newbie here. Actually I'm a chartered electronics engineer but am often mystified by the dark magic of domestic wiring!

I have a kitchen counter fed by a live feed which comes up through a quarry tiled floor. I want to move the counter and disconnect that feed. I obviously don't want some form of termination on the floor so not sure what professionals would do here?

I can only think that the tile the cable comes through will have to be chipped out and a cavity made in the concrete screed below before fitting some sort of termination that can be covered by a new tile?

Any help or advice welcomed

TIA

Vigman

 

[Strima]

You need to find the source, normally fed from a nearby socket so isolate your socket supply for the kitchen and start looking for feeds from sockets normally exiting the bottom of the backbox.

At a push you might be able to remove the kick boards and see if a cable drops down the wall and disappears into the floor.

 

[Taylortwocities]

As per Strima. Leaving live cables and terminations in a floor is a recipe for a disaster.
Is it just one cable, or two? What does/did it power?

 

[Vigman]

Thanks for the quick reply. I remember the cables for the counter sockets were run in trenches in the concrete screed before coming up inside the counters. There are a lot of sockets in the kitchen where the feed for the counter sockets could be from.

Would it be ever be possible to safely terminate the live feed below floor level and then tile over?

TIA

Vigman

 

[Pete999]

Thanks for the quick reply. I remember the cables for the counter sockets were run in trenches in the concrete screed before coming up inside the counters. There are a lot of sockets in the kitchen where the feed for the counter sockets could be from.

Would it be ever be possible to safely terminate the live feed below floor level and then tile over?

TIA

Vigman

Joints in circuit cables nee to be accessible joining the cables and tiling over the joint is a far cry from being accessible.

 

[Octopus]

^^ best avoided.

Do you have any test kit?

 

[Taylortwocities]

He’s a chartered electronics engineer.
Bet he’s got an oscilloscope in the garage, and an Avo7.

 

[Pete999]

He’s a chartered electronics engineer.
Bet he’s got an oscilloscope in the garage, and an Avo7.

Oh right thanks for that information, we can all rest easy now then.

 

[Midwest]

Would it be ever be possible to safely terminate the live feed below floor level and then tile over?

No.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Thanks for the quick reply. I remember the cables for the counter sockets ...

That sounds like it's part of an RFC.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Chop up the floor where the cable comes out. Carefully.

You will then be able to determine the direction that the cable comes from. It will probably be run in a straight line to the wall. From there it will probably (but not always) be connected into a socket vertical from that point.
You may see it emerge from the floor if you remove the kickboards.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Is it just one cable, or two? What does/did it power?

 

[Vigman]

Thanks everyone. I will have to find the feed and disconnect there.

I'll still have to chip the tile out round the cut dead cable coming out of the floor in order to get a finish.

Vigman

 

[SparkyChick]

Thanks everyone. I will have to find the feed and disconnect there.

I'll still have to chip the tile out round the cut dead cable coming out of the floor in order to get a finish.

Vigman

As @Archy Styrigg points out here...

That sounds like it's part of an RFC.

If there are multiple cables, it could indicate the sockets form part of a ring circuit. You should not simply disconnect them in this case as it could create a major safety issue (read, potential overload, fire and certain doom).

A good indicator would be if the counter sockets have two cables in each, with one cable coming up from the floor, daisy chaining through the sockets and then another going back into the floor.

 

[Anthony S]

Employ an Electrician is the best advice so can not believe people are offering advice over the forum with out even seeing the work in question. No wonder the industry is in such a mess, should of said the domestic side of it.