Broken power cable

[Arthur]

Hi. I need some advice on this please. I have installed a separate ring to the kitchen when I changed the old fuse box to a modern consumer unit. Before that there was a single socket in the kitchen which I intended to decommission. This socket was connected to a single ring which supplies the rest of the house.

While cutting back the floorboards in the bathroom I accidentally cut one of the cables that runs to this socket.

The rest of the power sockets in the house are working

What should I do about this broken cable?

Thanks.

Arthur.

[vivienne wykes]

Hi Arthur,

Basically you have three choices :

1. Find the sockets on the ring the piece you cut runs between and replace it with some new 2.5mm2 twin and earth.

2.If the existing two halves of cable are long enough you could fit an additional socket in a convenient place but not the kitchen or bathroom.

1. You could join the cables with a 40Amp joint block.

1. Being the simplest 1 or 2 being the better solution.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[:::Jerry::::]

Get a clue ?...

All the other sockets on a ring will appear to work OK if you cut one of the ring circuit cables but that will be working as an overloaded radial circuit and not a ring.

Perhaps you should get a suitable junction box and join the two half's of the cut cable back together.

I just hope I've got the wrong end of all this and have jump into the deep end before checking if there was any water in the pool. :~(((

[Christian McArdle]

The problem is that you will have broken the ring. This turns the circuit into a radial and it is unlikely that the cable sizes are sufficient for that. A 32A ring is normally run in 2.5mm, which as a radial is normally fused at 20A.

You need to repair or replace the cable you broke. Alternatively, as you are removing the socket, you need to run a new cable from the socket before to the socket after, leaving the chopped cable out of the loop.

Christian.

[Arthur]

Thanks to all. I think I will pull the 2 ends back and fit them into a new socket on the bedroom landing.

Thanks again.

Arthur

[N. Thornton]

thats why I dont read free.uk.diy - that seems to be the right answer to almost every query for some reason. I'm sure it helps some folk though.

Regards, NT

[:::Jerry::::]

I did expand on the matter though after that remark, or should I say scream of anguish...