Remove coaxial cable from wall?

Hennymore

Our front room has a male coaxial cable coming out of the wall as well as a female coaxial socket screwed onto the wall next to it.

These cables don’t look great and we’re not using them. They’re situated in a spot where they’re not hidden by furniture (and we don’t want to move furniture there).

I’m not sure how to go about removing them. Can I just cut them and plaster over? Is that safe? Do coax cables typically have any current going through them?

Or, maybe I should keep something outside the wall in case we decide to sell some day and a future owner wants them. If we leave cut-off cables behind a blank plate, could new cables sensibly be connected onto the cable ends? And again, is that safe?

Any ideas?

Aylesbury_Duck

Hennymore wrote: »

Our front room has a male coaxial cable coming out of the wall as well as a female coaxial socket screwed onto the wall next to it.

These cables don’t look great and we’re not using them. They’re situated in a spot where they’re not hidden by furniture (and we don’t want to move furniture there).

I’m not sure how to go about removing them. Can I just cut them and plaster over? Is that safe? Do coax cables typically have any current going through them?

Or, maybe I should keep something outside the wall in case we decide to sell some day and a future owner wants them. If we leave cut-off cables behind a blank plate, could new cables sensibly be connected onto the cable ends? And again, is that safe?

Any ideas?

If you don't mind the look of a blanking plate, I'd chase out a cavity, fit a backbox, leave as long a loop of coax as you can coiled inside it and cover with a blanking plate. That way, if you or anyone else wants to use it, there's enough there to work with. Do the same with the female socket currently there.

Label the new plate "l" for "left live" and the one next to it "I" for "Insert aerial here". It should be remarkably simple for anyone wanting to distinguish between them in future. I fail to see how even you, Hennymore, could muck this one up.

Pdbaggett

I just cut all mine off when I purchased my house and plastered over the walls. Never going to use them everything I watch is streamed now and don't have a TV license to begin with same for the land line.

I honestly can't see a perspective future buyer every deciding against a house purchase due to no TV Ariel's installed.

DaftyDuck

....I honestly can't see a perspective future buyer every deciding against a house purchase due to no TV Ariel's installed.

Then you think very narrowly. The vast majority of TV hours are still watched over aerial, and it's likely to remain that way soon. The very buyers who might be least-likely to have or want streaming services are probably also least likely to want to faff around installing an aerial and cabling.

OP. Go the blanking plate route, keep options open for your buyer.

Pdbaggett

If I buyer is interested in a house and it ticks all the other boxes I.e cost, location, practically and everything else yet decide against it due to not having a simple Ariel installed which can be had for less than £100 then they are quite frankly morons .

DaftyDuck

It's an aerial. Arial is a font!

No, buyers aren't necessarily morons; they merely tick up the pros and cons. When selling houses and trying to make a profit, you need do all you can to add to the pro column, and avoid the con column.

Hennymore

Thank you all, and :T to Aylesbury Duck for that brilliant reference to my namesake

I like the idea of coiling the cable behind a plate. Just to have the full picture, though, if I did decide to go the cut-and-plaster route: that should be perfectly safe, with no risk of sparks inside the walls or danger if accidentally drilled into? I suspect there’s no voltage in coax but I don’t know.

glentoran99

Its a cable not connected to any power source its fine

George_Michael

Hennymore wrote: »

if I did decide to go the cut-and-plaster route: that should be perfectly safe, with no risk of sparks inside the walls or danger if accidentally drilled into? I suspect there’s no voltage in coax but I don’t know.

The only time that drilling into a TV co-axial cable may cause any problems is if that co-ax is connected to an amplifier.
Drilling into it could possibly cause the inner conductor to short out to the outer screen and although this won't be dangerous, a short circuit on the amp output may damage the amplifier.

Aylesbury_Duck

Pdbaggett wrote: »

I just cut all mine off when I purchased my house and plastered over the walls. Never going to use them everything I watch is streamed now and don't have a TV license to begin with same for the land line.

I honestly can't see a perspective future buyer every deciding against a house purchase due to no TV Ariel's installed.

Ah yes, the sort of buyers that appear smaller at a distance and wouldn't be bothered about a Disney Princess installed in their TV. You're right, I honestly can't see that either.