Drilled in cable

[Dnwckhm]

Hi,

So, I appear to have drilled into a cable when hanging some shelves. There were some sparks from the drill bit and the electric was tripped, both the RCD and the outside lights were off in the consumer unit. I turned these back on and everything was fine, only problem was one of the outside lights is no longer working. I’ve switched the outside lights off at the consumer unit and back on and the outside light is now working again.

I’ve switched the outside lights back off again - happy to keep it like this just wanted to know if this was safe or if a repair is needed by an electrician? 
 

cheers

 

[Spoon]

Hi,

So, I appear to have drilled into a cable when hanging some shelves. There were some sparks from the drill bit and the electric was tripped, both the RCD and the outside lights were off in the consumer unit. I turned these back on and everything was fine, only problem was one of the outside lights is no longer working. I’ve switched the outside lights off at the consumer unit and back on and the outside light is now working again.

I’ve switched the outside lights back off again - happy to keep it like this just wanted to know if this was safe or if a repair is needed by an electrician? 
 

cheers

Welcome to the forum mate.

If you have drilled into a cable then a repair will be needed.  Will have to see how much damage you have done to the cable.

Is the cable still live?

What does the cable feed?

Can you take pics?  You might have to remove some plaster to see what damage has been done.

Isolate the supply first.

 

[Dnwckhm]

Thanks for the welcome and response Spoon.

The cable supply’s one of the outside lights, I’ve turned that circuit off at circuit breaker so all of the outside lights now have no power.

only pic I could supply would be of a small hole about 10mm deep, but nothing is visible in the hole.

If the supply is isolated, could there still be a problem? Reluctant to remove plaster ect if isolating them is sufficient, especially given that the outside lights aren’t essential.

 

[Dnwckhm]

Thanks for the welcome and response Spoon.

The cable supply’s one of the outside lights, I’ve turned that circuit off at circuit breaker so all of the outside lights now have no power.

only pic I could supply would be of a small hole about 10mm deep, but nothing is visible in the hole.

If the supply is isolated, could there still be a problem? Reluctant to remove plaster ect if isolating them is sufficient, especially given that the outside lights aren’t essential.

so I’ve isolated the supply again and cut a larger hole, looks like I’ve drilled part way through some metal, but can’t see any cable? I’ve got a voltage tester pen and that doesn’t pick up anything when close to the hole and supply back on

 

[Andy™]

its not safe and needs repaired

even if MCB is turned off you could still have a N-E fault (depending how its wired) which shouldnt really be dangerous but it could cause an imbalance enough to trip RCDs

 

[Dnwckhm]

its not safe and needs repaired

even if MCB is turned off you could still have a N-E fault (depending how its wired) which shouldnt really be dangerous but it could cause an imbalance enough to trip RCDs

Thanks Andy,

any idea on what the repair would involve and/or cost?

 

[Spoon]

so I’ve isolated the supply again and cut a larger hole, looks like I’ve drilled part way through some metal, but can’t see any cable? I’ve got a voltage tester pen and that doesn’t pick up anything when close to the hole and supply back on

The metal could be some metal capping and the cable is behind it.  If it is capping then a new cable might be able to be pulled through, using the old cable and a maintenance free connection added, or a new cable back to the source. 

It's hard to say what would actually need to be done and how long it will take without seeing it.