Hi

My kitchen ring main has a broken earth somewhere. There is a suspect region
where a spur feeds off the main ring to feed a single socket above the
skirting board. We think there must be a junction box hidden in the floor
(concrete), behind the skirting or buried in the wall that makes this
connection and maybe the fault is there.

I need to trace the spur wiring. I have tried using my Draper cable/metal
detector but it is not up to the job. I've seen a recommendation from Andy
Hall for the Zircon stud detector, but I think that is more aimed at
detecting voids. Would a Cable Avoidance Tool be my best bet?

I may have to take the skirting off. What is the cleanest way of doing this?

Thanks

David

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:51:58 +0100, "Aldrich"
wrote:

I may have to take the skirting off. What is the cleanest way of doing this?

Do you know how old the skirting is, how it is attached, and how old the
plaster around it is? Gradually, since moving in, I've removed all of
the 120 year old skirting in our place and I think it would have been
impossible to do without damaging a few cm's of the horse-hair plaster
above it (in truth I was never in a position where I needed to care
about the plaster too much), conversely there was a 2.5m run of new-ish
skirting and plaster that had received some damp treatment in the recent
past. The board was fixed to the plasterwork with some sort of adhesive
("No More Nails/Sticks Like ****" kind of stuff, I presume) and came of
very cleanly.

--
Chris Cowley

Aldrich wrote:

My kitchen ring main has a broken earth somewhere. There is a suspect region
where a spur feeds off the main ring to feed a single socket above the
skirting board. We think there must be a junction box hidden in the floor
(concrete), behind the skirting or buried in the wall that makes this
connection and maybe the fault is there.

I need to trace the spur wiring. I have tried using my Draper cable/metal
detector but it is not up to the job. I've seen a recommendation from Andy
Hall for the Zircon stud detector, but I think that is more aimed at
detecting voids. Would a Cable Avoidance Tool be my best bet?

A zircon is also a metal and voltage detector. It will probably do a
better job than your Draper. The other tracing tool you can use is the
telecoms type when you use a signal generator connected to the wire in
question and a tracing wand to follow it. The small ones don't have that
much range however, and the big ones (like those BT use for tracing
underground wires) cost a fortune!)

I may have to take the skirting off. What is the cleanest way of doing this?

Depends on how it is fixed! If screwed, unscrew it, otherwise a wide pry
bar and/or bolster chisel!

--
Cheers,

John.

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"Aldrich" wrote in message
...
Hi

My kitchen ring main has a broken earth somewhere. There is a suspect
region
where a spur feeds off the main ring to feed a single socket above the
skirting board. We think there must be a junction box hidden in the floor
(concrete), behind the skirting or buried in the wall that makes this
connection and maybe the fault is there.

I need to trace the spur wiring. I have tried using my Draper cable/metal
detector but it is not up to the job. I've seen a recommendation from Andy
Hall for the Zircon stud detector, but I think that is more aimed at
detecting voids. Would a Cable Avoidance Tool be my best bet?

I may have to take the skirting off. What is the cleanest way of doing
this?

Thanks

David



I have just brought anew one from Fluke, very nice bit of kit and very
acurate, but cost £350 plus vat

John Rumm wrote:
Aldrich wrote:

I need to trace the spur wiring. I have tried using my Draper cable/metal
detector but it is not up to the job. I've seen a recommendation from
Andy
Hall for the Zircon stud detector, but I think that is more aimed at
detecting voids. Would a Cable Avoidance Tool be my best bet?

A zircon is also a metal and voltage detector. It will probably do a
better job than your Draper.

Yes I have a Draper one (somewhere!) - total rubbish. I'm saving up for
a Zircon!

Note there was a thread on this ng about a week or so back discussing
whether a new cheap detector available at B&Q was actually a Zircon in
disguise: http://tinyurl.com/j4l9v (or
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y/browse_frm/thread/158db37b0e9f44ff/74363caff501af23?lnk=st&q=zircon+group%3Auk.d-i-y&rnum=2&hl=en#74363caff501af23

I'd love to know the definitive answer to that! Cos I'm damned if I'm
going to buy myself a *third* detector that doesn't work properly!

David

"Aldrich" wrote in message
...
Hi

My kitchen ring main has a broken earth somewhere. There is a suspect
region
where a spur feeds off the main ring to feed a single socket above the
skirting board. We think there must be a junction box hidden in the floor
(concrete), behind the skirting or buried in the wall that makes this
connection and maybe the fault is there.

I need to trace the spur wiring. I have tried using my Draper cable/metal
detector but it is not up to the job. I've seen a recommendation from Andy
Hall for the Zircon stud detector, but I think that is more aimed at
detecting voids. Would a Cable Avoidance Tool be my best bet?

I may have to take the skirting off. What is the cleanest way of doing
this?

Thanks

David

If you know any telephone engineers (specifically cable jointers) borrow a
"tone and amplifier" from them. If you happen to be in Preston, Lancashire,
drop me an email (darkstar2004 AT btinternet DOT com) and I'll come round
with mine.

Mogweed.