Detecting pipes and cables in solid walls

Harnser

Harnser

Harnser

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24 Oct 2014
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390
Location
South coast
I'm starting to do DIY on my house. The core is 1930s which was rewired at some point, and the back is a 20 year old double story extension. The last owner "renovated", and I don't trust the cabling to follow sensible runs. All walls are solid.

While tracing the hot water pipes I tore down some boxing in - and found a live capped gas pipe popping out against an internal wall.

In the older part sockets are mounted low on the skirting board such that I can't plug stiff cables into them, which might mean the cables are running behind the skirting boards, or not.

All this is making me nervous about drilling the holes I need to, in case I drill into a pipe or cable. I bought a detector from Amazon which I'm sure works fine on stud walls, but here it was useless, beeping for bumps or changes in the plaster rather than where known electrical cables ran.

Is there a gadget to help, or do I man up, point the drill and assume the best?
 
I have a Bosch one but it's not particularly accurate, it has a different sound for electrical and metal but it'll go off if anything is near where you want to drill not as you might expect directly over the cable so it's not great for pinpointing an exact location
 
Funny this cropped up.

I am wanting a metal detector that can trace copper pipes concreted into a floor (Central heating)

Its a bloody nuisance really. The piping is old, not lagged/protected against the concrete, and the radiators are in all the wrong places. I am probably going to just disconnect the ground circuit and run the rads from a first floor loop in the end. (Either that or dig it all out and run new pipes in ducts. I do not like to have anything that cannot be accessed) But it would be helpful to work out where the current runs are even if I do not retain them.
 
Our 1930's semi was similar, all low level sockets. When I ripped it all out 99% of the cables were under the floor and rh ring cam down in one corner of each room (down stairs) and all under the floor up stairs, lighting cables were inside the old gas lamp pipes so protected bad easy to find.

Best way to Tempt anything is to assume power come up from the floor and lighting comes down from the roof, it's not often that changes.
 
BigBoy said:
Best way to Tempt anything is to assume power come up from the floor and lighting comes down from the roof, it's not often that changes.
Click to expand...

I really wouldnt assume that as such, the old part of our house has everything fed from the floor void above, downward for example :p
 
I would recommend buying a decent detector from a known brand from that is specced for solid walls. If that means spending £x00 on a detector I would just buy it. As other have said, the cheaper ones are only good for stud walls with plasterboard.

The cost of getting someone in to fix the gas/water/electric you just drilled through on a Sunday afternoon will be far higher than the cost of the detector. It will also be there for years to come when you want to put up pictures etc.

As people say, buy cheap, buy twice.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I would recommend buying a decent detector from a known brand from that is specced for solid walls. If that means spending £x00 on a detector I would just buy it. As other have said, the cheaper ones are only good for stud walls with plasterboard.

The cost of getting someone in to fix the gas/water/electric you just drilled through on a Sunday afternoon will be far higher than the cost of the detector. It will also be there for years to come when you want to put up pictures etc.

As people say, buy cheap, buy twice.
Click to expand...
Good points.

Ideally people here will have experience of one, as the online reviews for the Bosch D-tect 120 are somewhat mixed.
 
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