Help please - gone through an electrical wire

Peter_Griffin

Evening all

Just after some advice. We are decorating my babies room, the carpet is getting replaced this Wednesday and so as if had access to the floorboards (which are really squeeky) decided to drill some screws in to help reduce the squeeks !

I checked with our black and decker cable and pipe checker and to be safe just put the screws 1cm next to the old floor board nails. Anyway when drilling a pilot hole the electricity went off so assume I hit a wire ?! A fuse tripped on the fuse box - I've reset it and all seems fine - all lights plugs in that room and every other are still working fine.

Obviously I'm going to ask an electrician to come round and take a look tomorrow but is there anything I should do in the mean time ? Should I turn all the electricity off ? Will it be safe as it
Is ?

Sorry total novice and would really appreciate some advice !

Thanks

peachyprice

Erm, lift up the floorboard and check perhaps?

Crinkmeister

Did you reset a fuse (MCB) or an RCD and how old is your wiring?

Jonesya

If you believe you've drilled into the cable then to be safe you should leave the electricity switched off until the cable has been inspected and any damage repaired. A damaged cable has the potential to start a fire.

Peter_Griffin

Thanks for the replies - the fuse says SQUARE D then below that

RCBO then below that Dom32B6R30 then below that B32 - 30ma it does say 'SOCKETS' below it although when flicked all the power to the house went.

The wiring is probably the same as when the house was built which is likely to be early 80's I'd think.

Sorry totally clueless and just want to make sure my family will be ok tonight. Appreciate your comments about lifting the floorboards but wouldn't know where to start with that especially with a baby sleeping next door.

Thanks !

Peter_Griffin

It won't let me link on here but have shown an image on imagebam.

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Crinkmeister

All your house sockets are on one ring, protected by that RCBO? Presumably lights, kitchen circuit, etc are all protected separately by the two RCDs (the labels should tell you), in which case I'd agree with Jonesya and turn that RCBO off until you can check the cable that you damaged. I suspect that your CCU has been upgraded at some point as I don't think RCBOs were around in early 80's - someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Ectophile

To explain some of the terminology:
Square D is just the manufacturer of the board.
RCD = Residual Current Device: a thing that turns off the power if current is leaking to earth. It's mainly to shut off the power if you are being electrocuted.
MCB = Miniature Circuit Breaker: a thing to shut off the power if a circuit is overloaded or short circuited. It's an alternative to a fuse.
RCBO = Residual Current Breaker with Overload: a complicated name for an RCD and MCB combined into one breaker.

Until the cable has been inspected, it's safest to leave that circuit switched off. The wire is probably damaged and may overheat if used.

Peter_Griffin

Thanks everyone.

Yeah the fuse box was updated fairly recently - think you're all correct, safety first so have hit the switch, shame as it'll mean losing most of the food in the fridge and freezer and no baby monitor tonight but at the end of the day got to put everyones safety first !

Really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Crinkmeister

Just being nosey now, how many different circuits do you have, surely you have a 13A socket somewhere else in the house that you could plug fridge into?

Peter_Griffin

Unfortunately the RCBO switch seems to take out all sockets in the house not just in that room. If there is any way round this I'd be most interested in case anything like this happens in the future !

Thanks again