Are there Wires there ????

Heliospherez

Heliospherez

Heliospherez

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Any Electricians In Here ????

I am thinking of drilling a hole in a cavity wall (under my stairs in the cupboard)

The hole I am drilling is on the other wall to the right of our household fusebox about 2 ft up.

I have checked there are no wires (with one of those Wire tester things) - but I don't think they are too reliable at finding studs / wires etc.

Is there any chance the mains wiring would be taken sideways into the fusebox (rather than from above or below)
 
Cables without protetcion may run horzontally or vertically from an acessory, or within 150mm of corners or the top of the wall. (thats if its been installed to BS7671, if local decorator has done it then anything goes :p )

Quite unlikely cables would run sideways to a CU, but depending on building design its possible.

If it were me I'd take the cover off and have a look, but if you're not sure whats what then probably best as theres no garentee that all live stuff will be particualy well shielded from fingers, modern boards are quite good in that respect, but older ones arn't the best places to poke fingers into!

(even with the main switch off the main incomming terminals will still be live, and as I say they can be not that well shielded on older boards)
 
AFAIK "best practice" is to run wiring straight up/down where possible.

However, you can never tell, as there are some right cowboys out there (or it might have been the only way to run a particular wire).
 
divosuk said:
Any Electricians In Here ????

I am thinking of drilling a hole in a cavity wall (under my stairs in the cupboard)

The hole I am drilling is on the other wall to the right of our household fusebox about 2 ft up.

I have checked there are no wires (with one of those Wire tester things) - but I don't think they are too reliable at finding studs / wires etc.

Is there any chance the mains wiring would be taken sideways into the fusebox (rather than from above or below)
Click to expand...

im a sparks,

from the terminology i use at work the mains would be the incoming that would be under the floor boards usualy and rise up vertical to the head (the box witht he main fuse and meter near it.
i wouldent rely on a stud finder realy they are **** if your realy unsure about drilling just turn every thing off apart from the ring, being under a stair case i wouldent be surprised if the cables feeding up stairs are running vertical to the fuse board, any way drill away, at worst you'll blow a fuse and have a couple of hundred quid bill :P
 
Werewolf said:
AFAIK "best practice" is to run wiring straight up/down where possible.

However, you can never tell, as there are some right cowboys out there (or it might have been the only way to run a particular wire).
Click to expand...

i dont realy agree with the cowboys bit a lot of houses were done decades ago under a different edition of the regs.
 
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