Complicated One

[Carlnorwich]

I have an electrical switch in a cupboard, that was used to control a water storage tank. This tank has been removed so the switch is now redundant.

There are two thick grey cables going into the switch.

One cable has two wires coming out; a red one, and a black one.
The other has three wires coming out; a red one, a black one a green one.

Both red wires are screwed into the same hole, both black wires are screwed into another hole and the green one goes off into a different hole.

I would like to remove the switch and make the wires safe. Is there some sort of connector I can buy and how should it be secured in a connector?

Sorry about the long explanaition, I would appreciate any help.

Many thanks.

 

[rssteve]

maby a photo? if not best call an electrician to see what is going on there.

 

[electronicsuk]

Do we really need a duplicate of your original post here?

 

[Carlnorwich]

I originally put this under plumbing so I've transfered it across to electrics.

I will take a photo and post it in the morning - thanks for your help.

 

[nozspark]

I take it that this switch fed an immersion element, if so I have two issues with the way it was wired up..

1. Supplies to immersion elements should be dedicated and not used or any other purpose

2. One of the cables has no protective conductor (earth), so whatever else is fed from this circuit is probably not earthed either!!

Therefore I would suggest that you ISOLATE this circuit at your consumer unit

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Both red wires are screwed into the same hole, both black wires are screwed into another hole .

Have you already removed some wires?

 

[Carlnorwich]

Untitled

• Carlnorwich
• 30 Oct 2008
• 1

Hopefully this shows everything clearly?

The two thick grey cables feed into the switch and the wires are secured into various positions on the switch (one cable has a red and a black wire coming out, the other has a red, black and green wire).

There is another thick white cable between the switch and a timer switch, which would have then gone into the water tank (this was cut when the tank was removed - you can see the end cut). Three wires come out of the white cable and are also secured within the switch.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The two thick grey cables feed into the switch and the wires are secured into various positions on the switch (one cable has a red and a black wire coming out, the other has a red, black and green wire).

Are you sure that the earth conductor from each cable doesn't go through the same bit of green sleeving?

You need to check, because if it's just been cut back in one of the cables you could have a problem.

Also you need to trace the cables to find out if what you have is a spur from a ring final which then has another spur from it, which is wrong, or if it's connected directly onto a ring or radial, which is OK. (Not that the immersion heater should ever have been on a socket circuit in the first place, but it wouldn't be the first time...)

 

[Carlnorwich]

Arrh, upon closer inspection each of the grey cables do contain three wires; one red, one black and one green.

Each of the two red wires are screwed into the same hole, the two black wires are screwed into a hole.

One wire comes out of the grey sleeve and goes into a green sleeve. I can see two wires coming out of the green sleeve, they are screwed into the same hole.

How would I find out if all this comes off a ring or a final ring - it disapears under the floor boards towards our bedroom.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[Steve]

There is another thick white cable between the switch and a timer switch, which would have then gone into the water tank (this was cut when the tank was removed - you can see the end cut).

Ther person that did this wants stringing up.

 

[tSpark]

you really need an electrician mate.

What HE would do is
a)test the circuit to see if its live
b) find out which mcb on consumer unit isolates it
c)if its on a ring main (which as ban all sheds says, it never should have) then he would probably test the integrity of the circuit and replace the switch with a single socket (providing its in an appropriate location)

 

[tSpark]

you really need an electrician mate.

What HE would do is

HE/SHE (politicly speaking)

 

[Carlnorwich]

Untitled

• Carlnorwich
• 31 Oct 2008
• 1

Untitled

• Carlnorwich
• 31 Oct 2008
• 1

Hopefully these diagrams show exactly what the set-up is. You can see the set-up I now have under my floor boards.

Now the water/emersion tank has gone I was hoping I could remove the timer all together, then connect both the red, black and green wires; this would complete the circuit?

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes - you could join the cables inside the back box and put a blanking plate over it, and that would complete the circuit.

The trouble is we still don't know what that circuit is, and what else it supplies and how, so there might be other changes you should be making to it.

Why is the back box out of the wall, BTW?

 

[Carlnorwich]

The old emersion tank was in a brick cupboard, when the tank was removed (and replaced by a combi downstairs) I removed the cupboard to make more space in the bathroom.

I then removed the back box from the wall and placed it under the floor boards so I could decorate the wall.

The circuit (two thick cables) run under the floor boards and into our bedroom, in order to trace where this circuit goes and to see what else it supplies I guess I would have to pull the bedroom carpet up?

Taking all that into consideration, can I just put a blanking plate over the back box, put it under the floor boards and forget about it? Will it be safe?

Thanks again for staying with me on this.