In message 'electrical weirdness'
My friend borrowed my electronic cable detector which detects live cables and pipes. There are two operating modes and the metal pipe detector has a sensitivity adjustment. The live cable detector is simply on or off.
I previously had no reason to suspect that the equipment did not work. Placing the device against the wall of an alcove in his party wall gives a live indication for the entire wall. Other walls in the same room do not indicate as live. Testing around a light switch gives correct behviour.
So I can't decide what conclusion to draw about the status of my cable checker. The failure mode is presumed to be a false positive. All other checks indicate that the device is working correctly.
Is there any way to be sure other than removing some of the plaster in the intended location of drilling and visually examining the area underneath?
Even turning the power off is not going to help. If we turn the power off and the detector does not indicate live then there is not guarantee that I wont be drilling through a buried cable which will then become live again when I turn the power back on. If we turn the power off and it STILL shows live then there is no guarantee that we are not detecting power from a seperate power source. This IS the party wall. This guy has been next door and visually examined the site from the other side and there are wall mounted lamps there but surely these shouldn't be picked up through 9" of brick by one of these detectors? My friend hasn't tried getting both houses to turn their power off...
Any comments or suggestions appreciated.