Lost Cable!

[markpryor]

Sorry Guy & Girls if I have not followed right protocol to ask this question. But sadly under pressure to get job done.

I have just put 13 radial circuits in for 13 x 1.5kw heaters going to run off economy 7 (all we are offered in the sticks!).

13 cables have been wired into 2 consumer units  with 6 and 7 16amp mcb. my problem is I can only find 12 ends. The builder whilst I was on holiday (sad, yes I need one, every now and then!) has plaster boarded, screeded and painted nicely over the end where I was going to fix a switched fused spur.

Please how can I find the missing cable without knocking massive holes in the wall? sadly no it is not possible to lift floor boards from above to look down!

Really hope you can say there is some sort of pulsating gadget that can do the location job for me???

Thanks for reading this.

Regards

Mark

 

[Andy™]

tone tracer should get you somewhere close

something like this

http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-8500/tone-probe-set/dp/IN05683?in_merch=Featured%20Products&MER=e-bb45-00001001

 

[m4tty]

Liven it up and use stud/cable finder may be possibility ?

 

[markpryor]

Hi Andy

Thought there might be something like that out there.

Do you know if I just need to pull the wires out of the consumer unit and attach a 12v or what ever voltage to it at scan the walls? Hoping to pick up the signal. I have never used one, have you??

Hi M4tty will give that a go as the cheapest option, hopefully when I cut the cable, the ends didn't bend into each other!

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

I use a tone tracer all the time. You connect the  transmitter (sender) to  the L & N at the board. With the tracer you then hold it close and it will start beeping to prove its working. Then go to where you think the other end is and wipe it up and down the wall until you here the beeping. Then go side ways until you have to make a guess where the end is. When you have used them a while its easier to decipher the noise. If there is foil backed board you can not trace the cable. If you short out the cable on test the beeping stops so you know you have the correct pair. This was designed for use on telephone systems and can work over miles.

PS, the cables have to be very dead, its easy to blow the tone set.

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

Here is a kit with pics, you can see one unit  has the flying leads and the other is the hand held part you use to find the cable. I do not know this make as all my stuff is ex BT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Network-Phone-Telephone-Cable-Tracker-Wire-Tone-Tracer-Sender-Receiver-pouch-/400322660262?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item5d351707a6

There is the voice of experience :slap

:innocent

 

[kerching]

I have an ex BT one and a TEMPO one ( slightly more industrial quality than the Tenma offering)

mine came from my corner shop....see Andy's link

F useful piece of kit.....gets used almost every day.  When you get used to driving it you can pick out a pair in a 1000 pair frame in about 2 minutes

just tracing

 

[kerching]

Shame the corner shop is so far away from him :slap

Not too far  from me though but......

just passing..........on an almost daily basis

 

[Manator]

In 1970 blah blah blah, during my training, we were taught to produce line drawings of our installed cables. It is something that I have always followed and as such have never ever lost a cable!

I remember a job about three years ago where I actually fell out with the client. I had done the first fix but it was all hidden behind 50mm of insulated tape and jointed boarding. The electrician that undertook the project knew me and called myself to talk over the project. I gave him all the measurement required and he found all the cables to allow him to second fix.

The moral of this story is, if you install it, record it!

 

[kerching]

As the Maneater said.....record it!

where possible I paint mark the floor, or make drawings and leave a copy on site, scan a copy and put on pc and leave another in my glovebox

on major refits i use a prog called 360 on the ipad and phone

why do you think most phones have a camera built in?.......so us sparks dont have to committ stuff to memory!

just getting old and forgetting stuff and forgetting stuff and forg

 

[Sidewinder]

There is always this, type of tool, which may go through foil backed plasterboard, not sure.

MM would be your man to find out as he sells them @ http://isswww.co.uk/

http://isswww.co.uk/Cable-Locators-Wire-sorters/Fluke-Testers/Fluke-2042-Cable-Locator/

 

[Andy™]

Shame the corner shop is so far away from him :slap

its a lot closer to me than it is to you!

 

[septiclecky]

If you know the approximate location get a lump hammer and bash the hell out of the wall till you find the box and then tell the builder to repair it at his own cost for being a complete and utter prat for covering it in the first place

 

[Sidewinder]

True septic, hence why any of my quotes that involve other trades/companies, state that any works required to put their "stuff" right, are chargeable, and any order placed is on these grounds regardless of any subsequent communications.