Cable detectors - do they work?

[fathertobe]

Was about to drill a hole through a 300mm wall on Sunday when the thought occurred to me that there might be a cable hidden back there somewhere...

So wondered about buying a cable detector but they seem to be poorly rated by many.

Anyone any experience of one they could recommend (or not - as the case may be).

THanks.

 

[danlightbulb]

I bought one last year from Wickes. Cost £17. It was useless.

 

[DARTHVADER]

Dont bother with Aldi's £9.99.. c**p!!!!

 

[fathertobe]

As I suspected. Thanks guys - but keep those comments coming. Someone must be in support of one somewhere.

 

[MarkBarl]

I have a draper one which has served me well. On the subject of where cables should be, have a look at the Wiki page //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:installation_techniques:walls which shows where cables "should" be run" and could be expected.

 

[rjb]

I had a Wickes one and it saved me a lot of grief when I bought a old house which it successfully identified cables that were wired out of the safety zones.

I found you need to prove your kit against a known cable run. I found different walls have different sensitivity to the detector so run it were you know a cable lies. Start with it on most insensitive and run over cable and then do it again with the detector turned up a bit. Repeat until you get a positive reading. This should then be good for the rest of the wall.

 

[ub7rm]

I bought one from a well known shed and it was pretty much crap. No use whatsoever with lath and plaster walls for finding either studs or cables. On a plasterboard wall you could use it to trace a cable from a know location but otherwise **** poor. Save your money and buy some rubber gloves......