Lost power

[nobody760]

Problem

Power to garage has gone. Cable runs from the fuse box in the front
of the house up, down and around and under various rooms and comes out at
rear of house. Runs along outside wall for a while then disappears
underground to remerge to enter garage. (Long garden).

Is there any way to tell where the cable may be broken? Just don't
fancy having all the floor boards etc pulled up. Pal suggests (electric off
first!) cutting the cable just outside the rear of the house and joining a
new one to it. Is this possible and what do I ask for - presumably its a
waterproof and sturdy joining box of some sort.

I know its an electricians job but to be honest I've retired now and
money is very tight and nephew has loads of that thick cable he is willing
to give to me.

 

[Gavin Gillespie]

Problem

Power to garage has gone. Cable runs from the fuse box in the front
of the house up, down and around and under various rooms and comes out at
rear of house. Runs along outside wall for a while then disappears
underground to remerge to enter garage. (Long garden).

Is there any way to tell where the cable may be broken? Just don't
fancy having all the floor boards etc pulled up. Pal suggests (electric off
first!) cutting the cable just outside the rear of the house and joining a
new one to it. Is this possible and what do I ask for - presumably its a
waterproof and sturdy joining box of some sort.

I know its an electricians job but to be honest I've retired now and
money is very tight and nephew has loads of that thick cable he is willing
to give to me.

One way I use to test for a break in a cable, (don't know if this will
work with armoured cable), is to use a cheap neon type tester, the
sort that lights up when any voltage is near, without actually
touching the bare metal cores, (like the type used for finding live
cables in walls). With the power off, I would disconnect at the remote
end, and make sure the disconnected wires are safe, and insulated from
each other. Then I would turn on the power, and trace the cable with
the tester until the light goes out, this should be where the break
is.. If the break is in the neutral, this will not work, so then I
would reverse the live and neutral feed, and do the test again, this
should now show any break in the neutral. I have used this test for
breaks in trailing cables with good success.