Rodent damage to cables?

[JohnW2]

And pointless if you do not have the competence to operate it and to interpret the results.

And, unless one is lucky, totally useless even in the hands of someone who has the equipment and the competence to operate it and interpret the results. As one might expect, the damage shown in this oft-posted piccie of mine passed an IR test with flying colours ...

Given the state of the cabling, you can assume that there is a lot of this sort of damage in the property.

We discussed this recently in relation to RF's scout hut, and it can be very difficult. The above illustrated damage was discovered (under floorboards) purely by accident, at a time when there was no known current or recent rodent problem, and may well have been there for years (although the copper does look pretty bright). I tested everything in the house (which, as above, proves nothing) and lifted a few floorboards in the vicinity (and found no other problem), but decided that the expose all the cables in my (verylarge) house would be impractical - and so relied on hope (and that way many years ago, with no known problems since)/

At the very least, I recommend that you have an electrician carry out a continuity and insulation resistance test on the whole installation.

I agree - but, as above, in the knowledge that a full set of 'clean' tests in no way proves that there is not extensive damage to hidden cables.

Maybe get a fierce version of this

Untitled

• Taylortwocities
• 6 Nov 2013
• 1

Not foolproof! Once upon a time we had three cats, and that was the time when we had most mice (and other animals, including birds, even pigeons) in our house. The cats would often bring these creatures into the house alive, put them down proudly so we could see what they had caught, and then wondered why they ran off and hid under some piece of furniture (or flew around the kitchen!)!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Jupiter01]

Wago connectors combined with the appropriate enclosure can be classed as maintenance-free. TLC may be best place to check what combination is appropriate.

Perhaps I should use the integrated Ashley junction boxes? They do a 32 amp that I can use for the ring main and 10 amp for the lighting?

 

[JohnW2]

Perhaps I should use the integrated Ashley junction boxes? They do a 32 amp that I can use for the ring main and 10 amp for the lighting?

There's really little to choose. Both Ashley/Hager J803s/J804s and appropriate Wagos in a WagoBox do the same job. The former may be easier to fit into limited space.

Kind Regards, John

 

[plugwash]

Another difference is that the Ashley/Hager boxes have cable entries at both ends while the wagoboxes only have cable entry at one end. If using the boxes to repair and existing cable run with limited slack I could see this making a big difference.

 

[JohnW2]

Another difference is that the Ashley/Hager boxes have cable entries at both ends while the wagoboxes only have cable entry at one end. If using the boxes to repair and existing cable run with limited slack I could see this making a big difference.

Yep, that's also true.

Kind Regards, John