Right, pictures below - your step-by-step instructions were great, thanks.

The original cable that was/is causing concern is situated on the opposite side of the house (it is only a small house, mind), on the inside of the external wall and comes out from under the coving around the ceiling - which I was desperately hoping to leave intact. It could lead up and under the floorboards into either of the two front bedrooms.

Question - is the earth circuit and old wiring around the meter/fuse box potentially unsafe? I will phone the electricity company and ask (demand/beg) that they come and sort out the earth circuit to/from the meter/fuse box tomorrow.

I have just phoned Norweb and spoke to a very helpful lady who is sending an engineer out today! Hopefully this will solve all the problems.

Many, many thanks for all your replies and help. I will update later once the engineer has been.

Good show old chap. Are you friendly with your neighbours as it wold be an idea to see where your cable comes from. Another thought has come to me, is the pipe the cables are in like a steel pipe , that would also show as shiny when scratched ??? Is there any kind of thread in the end of this pipe ?? or a brass end to it ?? I know we are asking a lot of questions but without being there we cannot advise further as to the safety of your house without knowing.

Nick

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If it isnt broke dont bloody touch it until it bloody well is and if it is broke then make drawing of the connections before you remove the broken one and replace with a new one LoL

As far as I can make out it is a metal casing with 2 cables inside - one red and one black. There is no inner sheath between the metal casing and the internal cables. The cables inside the metal casing are coated with what looks like rubber - it is coloured either red or black on the outside and is a sort of grubby white on the inside. Each of the red and black casings contains 7 metal strands of silver-coloured wire.

This house was built in the late 1940s so I presumed it was lead casing, I believe that was in common usage back then? The rubbery type casing around each of the wires inside is quite soft, with an almost plastic feel to it, but in places it is hard, cracked and broken.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, best I can do with a crappy camera phone!

I haven't seen any tube/conduit in any of the pics

Seen some old lead cable.

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Forgot to answer your other questions! And please feel free to ask whatever you need to know.

The end of the cable we found in the living room was cut off about 1 metre above floor level so there was no 'end' on it, it was just the severed, slightly flattened, end of the cable. I cannot see any thread inside the cable. The other bit of similar cable is the one in the meter cupboard and there is no 'end' on that - it has just had the casing cut back so that the red and black wires could be used to attach onto those other plastic box bits discussed in earlier posts.

I shall attempt to pull some floorboards up in the hallway upstairs and see what delights that reveals! Wish me luck...

It's just old Lead cable, Sparkydude was thinking you had conduit carrying some cables.

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Scruff the conduit i was thinking of was the mains tails. Its possible they have used a steel conduit between mains incomers and then just put an earth clamp round it to obtain an earth.

All will be revealed when Norweb have been and we will know whats happening. The fuse box looks in very good condition and is pretty neat and tidy , so at least we know its been rewired. It may be wise to have a look at a few switches/sockets just to make sure they all have PVC cables in them and none have brittle rubber sheathed cables in them. It is a possibility that somewhere along the ine the fusebox may have been replaced, cables extended and joined to old cables somewhere. That was the only thing i could think of could have caused the RCD to trip. Maybe its joined to new wiring and only the neutral is connected so when chirted to earth led to the RCD to trip.

Look forward to the report later of their findings.

Nick

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If it isnt broke dont bloody touch it until it bloody well is and if it is broke then make drawing of the connections before you remove the broken one and replace with a new one LoL

Thanks Scruff - you guys are very thorough! And extremely helpful too.

So is it possible that by using old lead cable as part of an earth circuit for the meter/fuse box, this has somehow made the old cabling live? Would that be a reasonable explanation for why the old cable in the living room is live?

I really should hang my head in shame... but I do only teach primary so my knowledge of electricity doesn't go much past making basic circuits!

All will be revealed when Norwedb have been and we will know whats happening.


Don't count on it Dude!

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Measure twice, cut once!

I don't think the old cables are live, but they are causing an earth fault and the tripping somehow.

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Mr Norweb-engineer has just left! He looked at the gubbins in the meter cupboard and tested the earth circuit - the reading was 0.11, which he said was fine. He said that the sub-main from next door needs to be replaced but that it isn't urgent - someone will phone to make arrangements to come and do that in the next week or so.

He said we need to get a spark in to find out where the cable in the living room goes to and get it capped off properly.

Did he test it to see whether it was live or not

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He didn't test it, Scruff. I have a multimeter (that I have never actually used) - will that do the job?

Yes it would be perfect if you have the instruction manual or know how to use it.

Looking at the state of the wires in the pic, I think you can guarantee it's not live.

I'm not a sparky by the way, just an retired plumber.

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