Advice after drilling through electrical cable above plug socket

[Astolat]

You may well take the Micky about using ferrets but many years ago when the CEGB [ the forefather of National Grid ] were laying very high voltage cables under the Seven Estuary they had to install a draw wire into the steel pipes under the bed of the estuary and they got the initial light string through the pipe by tying it to a ferret and placing a rabbit at the other end of the pipe.

 

[Deleted account]

I wasn't taking the proverbial when I first mentioned ferrets. I know they have been and possibly still are used.

 

[Toneyz]

True or not it's a good antidote.

 

[diyterry]

OP: Of course, this all depends on the size of cable.
We can use anything from small hamsters to young children for pulling cables...

Took twenty of us to pull a new cable into place at work, mind you it was three inches thick.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Took twenty of us to pull a new cable into place at work, mind you it was three inches thick.

How many hamsters would that have taken?

 

[Spoon]

How many hamsters would that have taken?

Depends on the type of hamsters, mate...

 

[EalingBadger]

Depends on the type of hamsters, mate...

One (standard) hamster is approximately 0.000237Ap (where Ap is of course the usual unit and abbreviation for 'apprentice').

So, by simple arithmetic, we can deduce that we need 4,213 hamsters to replace the pulling power of one apprentice.

Although it is inconvenient to provide facilities to feed and water so many hamsters unless one has a very regular requirement for them it is always worth bearing in mind that they can be sent down very much smaller holes than any apprentice could hope to negotiate.

If you are in a hurry it is possible to temporarily increase the work output of your hamster team by waving a cat around at the rear of the group. This does work quite well and it is possible to achieve short-term increases of up to 300% at the expense of some hamster casualties as a result of heart attacks.

 

[Spoon]

So, by simple arithmetic, we can deduce that we need 4,213 hamsters to replace the pulling power of one apprentice.

Hamster don't spend 95% of their time on their phone, so the hamsters will get the job done a lot quicker than the apprentice.

 

[LabourForApprenticeship]

Hi all,

I have stupidly drilled through the same electrical cable TWICE 1 inch apart. This is above a twin plug socket which obviously now doesn’t work. The holes are about 1m above the socket.

As a temporary measure I was going to connect the wires individually with Wago connectors but the 2 whole problem has thrown me!

Will it be okay to replace the broken part of the cable and use wagos at each end?

Or is it better to replace cable from the break to the plug socket (so just one set of connectors being used?) Is it a case of attaching a new cable to the end of the old one and greasing / pulling through the socket?

Hope all that makes sense. Advice much appreciated!

Read up on safe zones before continuing. You shouldn't drill anywhere vertically or horizontally near any electrical outlet.

And finally before making circuits live, hire a qualified electrian to do testing. Mind you, it may be difficult as most electrians won't touch such work. Electrians are liable to leave circuits safe, if you bodged up the work it may take take several hours/days to rectify.

Even though I done electrical course, I didn't feel I was competant enough to do such work. Now I restarted working with a qualified electrian to learn trade properly. Not worth risking life over few thousand. Wish you all the best anyway.

 

[SparkyChick]

Even though I done electrical course, I didn't feel I was competant enough to do such work. Now I restarted working with a qualified electrian to learn trade properly. Not worth risking life over few thousand. Wish you all the best anyway.

Few thousand... if you're getting into this game for the money, you're going to be sadly disappointed. Couple of hours £80 is what I'd quote (without seeing it)

 

[Deleted account]

True or not it's a good antidote.

Antidote or anecdote

 

[Toneyz]

Antidote or anecdote

You know what I meant.

 

[w0z]

Hi all,

I have stupidly drilled through the same electrical cable TWICE 1 inch apart. This is above a twin plug socket which obviously now doesn’t work. The holes are about 1m above the socket.

As a temporary measure I was going to connect the wires individually with Wago connectors but the 2 whole problem has thrown me!

Will it be okay to replace the broken part of the cable and use wagos at each end?

Or is it better to replace cable from the break to the plug socket (so just one set of connectors being used?) Is it a case of attaching a new cable to the end of the old one and greasing / pulling through the socket?

Hope all that makes sense. Advice much appreciated!

If I've understood this correctly you're saying the socket only has one cable in it, yet your holes were an inch apart and yet you drilled through the same cable twice? So you drilled one hole then drilled the next hole one inch above or below the first, or was the cable running horizontally?

 

[FatAlan]

I wasn't taking the proverbial when I first mentioned ferrets. I know they have been and possibly still are used.

Ok, so who’s going to send their apprentice to the wholesaler for a ferret harness?

 

[Wilko]

Ok, so who’s going to send their apprentice to the wholesaler for a ferret harness?

No worries, eBay sells everything we need ...

 

[FatAlan]

No worries, eBay sells everything we need ...

View attachment 44275

Who is going to notify Screwfix so that they can add them to their stock? Suppose they’d have to add actual ferrets

 

[Deleted account]

How on earth did the subject get onto ferrets ?

 

[Spoon]

How on earth did the subject get onto ferrets ?

How else do you route cables....