Today ended with a bang!

[ETradesmen]

Hey there, I don't normally post much on here but am always browsing through this forum as the topics are somewhat interesting.

Anyway, as per the title. I managed to end todays work with a BOOM!

I have been working on a complete refurbishment on a old 1920's terraced house. The property has a dedicated resin supply cable feeding a single phase meter which then feeds a consumer unit. After stripping out all the cables throughout the property only leaving a temporary socket, you would assume every cable in the house is dead, right? WRONG!!

Today I had to ease of a sheet of wood that the electrical cutout/meter was fixed to so that the plasterer could dry line/plaster the wall behind it. That was easy. He then came back to me and asked if this other cable sticking out of the wall also dead?, I went back to the cupboard to discover an old 6mm lead cable poking through the wall with the end taped up. I told the plasterer "Of course its dead, the only cables in this building that are live are the temporary sockets". As i finished the sentence I was already halfway though cutting the cable. Then BOOM!!!!!! The sound of a £30 pair side cutters turning to ash along with some fireworks for added effect.

After scratching my head and wondering how the hell the old cable could still be live I then ventured into next doors property...

After opening her electrical cupboard and letting out the smoke I had created, I spotted the old LEAD cable going into the suppliers side of her old cast iron fused live/neutral cut out. The funny thing is was that her house was still on so the smoke in the cupboard must of been the old lead cable turning to ash!!

I told the lady that she needs to call the electrical provider and for them to send out an engineer ASAP.

Ive never seen this is 16 years of my electrical profession, but apparently this is how properties were supplied pre 1950's.

The funny thing is that the neighbours electrical intake had a new meter and consumer yet noone had pointed this out to her!!

What a great way to end a weeks work

Mike

 

[markc123]

Haha, never and i mean NEVER assume things are dead.

When i was doing my apprenticeship i asked if the power was off so i could change a socket faceplate - "yes mate" was what i got told and my first electric shock followed approx 20seconds later.

Then my boss said, "never assume, i knew it was live you should of tested it" ... old school approach to electrics but it has definitely taught me a lesson that has stuck with me for life.

 

[NJR]

I rewired a property and had the board shut off, we were chopping all cables off from sockets and switches. Most socket outlets where fed from the cavity, I went to cut of a socket and my cutters went bang and the next door neighbour came knocking, "my powers gone out, anything to do with you". You can imagine what happened next, a bit like neighbour wars. I went round next door and removed the spur from one of her sockets.

 

[Plonker 3]

Nice to see safe isolation was carried out. Hope you have made your insurance company aware that you very nearly killed someone at work. Hopefully you told your employer too so they can suitably deal with a liabilty like yourself.

 

[markc123]

Nice to see safe isolation was carried out. Hope you have made your insurance company aware that you very nearly killed someone at work. Hopefully you told your employer too so they can suitably deal with a liabilty like yourself.

Haha welcome back to this forum Dilb :waving:

 

[7029 dave]

Don't hold back Dillb. lol Its Friday

 

[Darkwood]

It came off the live side of the cutout DILB... I believe the OP made the assumption to his cost that this cable was unused and not the property of the DNO, the DNO may now issue a bill for the repair as it wasn't due to failure on their part.

 

[Plonker 3]

As I mentioned, safe isolation just because you think its dead doesnt mean it is. Surely any competant electrician knows this?

 

[Darkwood]

As I mentioned, safe isolation just because you think its dead doesnt mean it is. Surely any competant electrician knows this?

I wasn't picking at your comment :cool3: just wondering if you missed the fact the cable couldn't be safely isolated due to it been on the DNO supply side of cutout, I think a few factors came into play here.. lack of experience with coupled supplies, complacency and assumption - regardless the OP has just added a valuable lesson to his experience and no doubt he won't make a similar mistake in the future... luckily for himself no one was injured ... had that lead sheath had a bad earth this could have been a whole lot messier but I'm certain after this scare he will have deffo learnt his lesson....

Been there, done it different circumstances but I'm sure there isn't one seasoned spark on this forum who can claim a clean run without these moments.

 

[davesparks]

An electrician died in similar circumstances at the company where I served my apprenticeship. It was a good few years before I started but it was still talked about

 

[ETradesmen]

As mentioned, I've not seen this is 16 years of my time. I have my own business and rarely make mistakes.

Obviously I should of checked if it was live and have learned a valuable lesson

just thought I'd share my mishap on here

 

[Deleted member 9648]

As I mentioned, safe isolation just because you think its dead doesnt mean it is. Surely any competant electrician knows this?

Dillb.....If you can honestly say you have never ever balls-ed up with a live cable that you assumed was dead I would be very,very surprised. I have...loads of times. It's quite correct to talk about safe isolation and all that but in the real world I'll wager there's not an electrician who's been around a while who hasn't got it wrong at least once.

 

[R G]

I would love to see the state of the fuse finder if op can post a pic...

I got it wrong once myself on a job where someone had used coax from a joint box that went down a wall and into a single box that was taped up , just shows you can't take anything for granted..

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I've had mains on coax too, as well as a bit of 4-core CW1293 phone cable run in through the front door frame from near the phone dropwire joint box. And a figure-8 bell wire that definitely went to an ordinary Friedland bell push (it was on the mains side of the tranny).

I knew the OP was going to be about a shared service issue as soon as I started reading the post, and I don't do domestics so I don't meet them either. The clincher was

an old 6mm lead cable

Not a very common thing to find as a final circuit in an ordinary terraced house. They didn't have a lot of 7.2kW showers in the days of lead-sheathed rubber, but of course PILC was bog standard for service cables since the year dot. And taped up too. Lots of things to set the alarm bells ringing!

 

[Dave OCD]

I came across an understairs cupboard light a few years ago wired in bell wire, and the feed was from a light switch just external to the cupboard - no neutral in there though, it was live and earth - straight into the metal wall box terminal.
All of this wiring was hidden behind boarding in the cupboard and I only found it when doing a CU change - switching this light on caused instant RCD tripping as you can imagine. :cowboy: