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Salutary lesson on electrical safety

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Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby AJB Temple » 27 Jun 2022, 09:58

Painting house. A few dangling wires under the eaves (and an indoor 3 pin socket I had no idea was there). Electrician had previously assured me that none of the old white dangling wires were live (mostly coax anyway).

Wife is up scaffold getting ready to paint and is removing wire bird mesh from beneath the eaves using electrical snippers (insulated). She spots a dangling wire and asks me if it is OK to cut it. Yes. (Scaffold is on big rubber/plastic wheels and anyway the sparks said the external wires are dead). She cuts and pushes the tail back into loft space. Painting proceeds.

Much later, she tells me the upstairs lights are not working. RCD controlled circuits upstairs and MCB for light circuit upstairs both tripped. I had turned the gates off earlier (RCD protected) and for some reason thought that caused the trip and so reset everything). We go to sleep.

The next day I have a nagging worry and concerned about fire risk go in search of the cut tail in the loft. Eventually find it and pull it up from beneath insulation. The wire is live. It does not feed anything that is in existence now. I normally test all electrics with my megger. However, I relied on someone else. :oops: Could easily have had shorting across the exposed ends and set fire to the insulation in the loft.
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby Eric the Viking » 27 Jun 2022, 10:00

Yup - take nobody's word for it.

E.
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby novocaine » 27 Jun 2022, 10:33

Treat everything as live until you've proven otherwise. First rule taught to me and the rule that's stuck with me for a long long time having broken it only once and regretted it. Same rule apply to pressure systems, if you can't prove it, you don't touch it.

glad you found it and dealt with it now rather than leaving it. :eusa-dance:
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby Raymedullary » 27 Jun 2022, 10:43

Electricians call test pens "widow makers" still a good idea to test everything tho!
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby novocaine » 27 Jun 2022, 11:00

Raymedullary wrote:Electricians call test pens "widow makers" still a good idea to test everything tho!


we used to call them eppy pens, as in when it didn't show as live but was wrong you'd throw an eppy about it (thus named from the sparky coming in to the maintenance office and chucking the pen at the foreman whilst screaming about how it could have killed him), we included methods for positive isolation and testing in the maintenance procedure shortly after as no one had stated the method previously, even though we had a full LOTO process in place. I still have one in my pack but it's in with the clamp meter which will get used on terminals to prove isolated.

they are not considered as an acceptable method of prove in any industrial setting that I've come across in the past 20 years, yet they still seem to be accepted in domestic work.
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby AJB Temple » 27 Jun 2022, 11:06

I kind of agree re test pens though I do have one. Problem with them is lack of an indication does not prove there is no live current present. I like to test for live and prove dead with the Megger and test box (check Megger is working before and after). However, this was a loose wire dangling outside, provided a lighting point externally I imagine at one time, and I had specifically asked the qualified and registered sparks (albeit 2 years ago when I had new external lights put up) to make sure all old circuits were decommissioned and dead. I wont make the mistake of trusting to a third party again. I was just too lazy to get the electrical test gear out and climb up the scaffold tower. Lesson learned.
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby John Brown » 27 Jun 2022, 14:27

I have found one useful in rapidly finding a break in a circuit, without having to get into stuff. Also can be useful for fixing old style non-led Christmas strings.
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Re: Salutary lesson on electrical safety

Postby novocaine » 27 Jun 2022, 15:24

John Brown wrote:I have found one useful in rapidly finding a break in a circuit, without having to get into stuff. Also can be useful for fixing old style non-led Christmas strings.


I find them useful for getting the last of my earwax out my left ear, rubbish for my right though.
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