Electric Distribution Company have no plans of my cables

RP12345

JC_Derby wrote: »

Firstly get a break down of this £1.5k it seems excessive - especially if you are doing the digging - unless they (the DNO) have to dig in public (footpath, footway or roadway, verge etc).Have they provided you a quotation?

It's 800 odd pounds + cabling (£12 a metre i think) if i was to do the digging and over 1.5k if they were to do the digging. I'm scared of doing the digging myself incase i end up severing a cable/pipe underneath. If i knew what was in there, i wouldn't be so hesitant

RP12345

Cardew wrote: »

There is no possible way that the electrical distribution company could or should know where cables are situated. How could they be expected to track changes made over 100+ years in some cases.

I would understand if the house was built over 100 years ago but this is only 70. Surely they'd have something. What would they do in emergencies?

Cardew

RP12345 wrote: »

I would understand if the house was built over 100 years ago but this is only 70. Surely they'd have something. What would they do in emergencies?

What sort of emergency do you envisage that would require knowledge of external cable layout?

RP12345

Cardew wrote: »

What sort of emergency do you envisage that would require knowledge of external cable layout?

Loss of electricity to a house on the road?

AndyPK

I'm surprised they asked you to do the digging, as they won't allow their personal to dig when a cable is live.


If they need to find the cable due to failure, they guess.
They have equipment to tell them how many meters away the fault is.
So if it is near the house, they dig near where in enters the house, if is it several meters away, they dig near the pavement. THere are usually clues where it runs along the pavement.

RP12345

AndyPK wrote: »

I'm surprised they asked you to do the digging, as they won't allow their personal to dig when a cable is live.


If they need to find the cable due to failure, they guess.
They have equipment to tell them how many meters away the fault is.
So if it is near the house, they dig near where in enters the house, if is it several meters away, they dig near the pavement. THere are usually clues where it runs along the pavement.

I'm guessing they're guessing now then. They said they can't dig inside garages (they only dig outside in the open). I was under the impression all cables ran under the pavement and then each house had an their own supply coming off that. After speaking to the neighbours regarding their meters/electrical point, they all seem to be in the kitchen. So it leads me to think they run right underneath the houses :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Mister_G

AndyPK wrote: »

If they need to find the cable due to failure, they guess.

Not quite. They have a tool called a CAT (Cable Avoidance Tool). They can insert a tracer signal onto the cable and pinpoint very accurately the route of the cable.

I used to use one regularly in my job.

RP12345

Mister_G wrote: »

Not quite. They have a tool called a CAT (Cable Avoidance Tool). They can insert a tracer signal onto the cable and pinpoint very accurately the route of the cable.

I used to use one regularly in my job.

When they came to trace the cable, they did try that but it just kept bleeping (as in it could not find anything). I wasn't present at the time but they said they couldn't track where they went. My garage is concreted, maybe the concrete was too thick to sense the cables?

Mister_G

RP12345 wrote: »

When they came to trace the cable, they did try that but it just kept bleeping (as in it could not find anything). I wasn't present at the time but they said they couldn't track where they went. My garage is concreted, maybe the concrete was too thick to sense the cables?

The concrete floor will have steel reinforcing mesh in it. This would confuse the CAT unless you add in the tracer signal. I suspect they didn't bother with the tracer, as it would need to be plugged into a 13amp socket in your house.

RP12345

Mister_G wrote: »

The concrete floor will have steel reinforcing mesh in it. This would confuse the CAT unless you add in the tracer signal. I suspect they didn't bother with the tracer, as it would need to be plugged into a 13amp socket in your house.

That's probably the case. The network distributor have been dragging their heels about this since the start of the year. Do you think a diamond blade on an angle grinder will cut the steel?