Domestic electricity supply

[cinque]

Running the risk of sounding a little silly. Colleague of mine is having an extention built on the side of his house. There is currently 'a wire' attatched to the house that he believes is his domestic electricity supply. (Telephone wire height)

Now maybe i'm being silly, but this doesnt convince me. Maybe its because supply in my area is 'subterranean'.

Its def. 'not' his telephone wire, as thats a separate connection to the front of his house.


i just know im gonna get ridiculed for this!


(n.b. he lives in S. East Essex Southend area old property/victorian)

[AC79xxx]

When you say wire do you mean cable?

A normal domestic feed should be a black armoured cable about 25-35mm thick.

If he's unsure about it, it's worth getting a neighbour round with some pliers to cut it. Remember to stand well back when he does

[chim_knee]

AC79xxx said:

...it's worth getting a neighbour round with some pliers to cut it...

[cinque]

thats the answer i was expecting


cable is as you say

[AC79xxx]

Forgot to add that new part P building regs now require any service (water, electric or gas) to be supplied beneath ground level - can't remember the depth but should be easy to google for it.

[rsvmilly]

Its very unlikely to be his electricity supply. What sort of thickness is the wire?

It is most likely to be a defunct telephone line. BT are not very good at taking down surplus/obsolete equipment.

[cinque]

i'll find out the wire thickness ASAP & report back

[chris1roll]

Why is it unlikely to be the electicity supply?

Thats where my parents is.


My father was working on a house once, was fitting a new doorway, and there was a crack in the render, so bolster chisel in the crack to take the render off....

BANG!! father flys off his platform, hand goes black, etc, luckily it was a doctors house! half of the village was without power....

Some utter feckwit had previously rendered in the mains feed, before the consumer unit, horizontally across the wall. Illegal and stupid....

>> Edited by chris1roll on Tuesday 15th February 17:57

[Ferg]

Overhead cables are normally in pairs.

[rsvmilly]

I think the word you missed was 'unlikely' not impossible.

The size of the cable should give a good idea as to what it is.

[chris1roll]

Ok, I see...

Parents are at either side of the drive, and connect to opposite ends of the house, because the phone comes in one direction and the leccy in another, and the can't "join up" because there is a whacking great ash tree in the way.

[AC79xxx]

AC79xxx said:

When you say wire do you mean cable? A normal domestic feed should be a black armoured cable about 25-35mm thick.

cinque said:

cable is as you say

rsvmilly said:

The size of the cable should give a good idea as to what it is.

Agreed, as it's a protected cable and not below ground my money is on an external feed to somewhere like a garage, tool shed or possibly garden lights.

Best get a sparks in to re-route.

BTW if you do get an electrician in do make sure you get an NIC EIC test certificate otherwise you may have problems later on down the line when you come to sell the property, fg HSE

[turbospud]

BTW if you do get an electrician in do make sure you get an NIC EIC test certificate otherwise you may have problems later on down the line when you come to sell the property, fg HSE [/quote]

they do not need to be in the niceic to issue a test certificate,they need to be judged competent by one of the many organisations that now exist, for a fee off course

[drc]

For what its worth my electricity supply to my 1920 ish house is overground at a height of about 12 feet attached to a bracket on the wall before disappearing through the wall and terminating at the meter, so in all probability it is quite likely.