Gardening and electrics

[Doomed]

Got called to a property where the home owner said they got a belt off the shower head and also a big tingle off a tap.
Quickly found 240 on the pipework, strait to fuseboard and pull the main isolator.
Re-check, and still 240 on the MET!
TNS system, so carefully remove the supply earth from the MET
House now dead, 240 on the suppliers earth!
Tell owner there is a problem with the supply cable and I need to call energy distributor.
Owner now sheepishly admits to hitting a 'old bit of wire' in the garden a couple of weeks ago.
The problem did not arise until the rains set in.
I think he did well to put 240 on his earth but not blow the main substation fuse.

 

[stef]

Interesting also why it didn't affect other properties with 240V on earth. It should back feed, shouldn't it? Or is it too early in the morning?

 

[snowhead]

What reference to "live Earth" did you use;

0 volt Live to earth?
240v N to earth?

It may be affecting others but they haven't noticed yet.
It would probably need to be a clean cut thro the DNO incoming earth and cut the Live bare for water to contact both and bring in the "live earth".

Or more likely there's a DNO problem further back and hitting the cable is a coincidence.

 

[Doomed]

0v live to earth, 240v N to E

apparently when the DNO uncovered the gardening point the earth was 'steaming' (I checked back on the customer on the way home)

 

[snowhead]

So it was an old Geyser that struck the cable?

 

[drew35]

That's going to be a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggggggggggg bill!!!

 

[snowhead]

That's going to be a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggggggggggg bill!!!

It was the Gnomes, Honest Guv, or the moles or the Wombles

 

[imago]

That's going to be a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggggggggggg bill!!!

Not if he hit it when doing 'normal' gardening, fair enough if he was digging a trench. He can't be held liable if it was too shallow and didn't have tape and tiles covering it.

 

[snowhead]

Not if he hit it when doing 'normal' gardening, fair enough if he was digging a trench. He can't be held liable if it was too shallow and didn't have tape and tiles covering it.

That didn't stop Transco billing me when I hit a gas service 6 inches under grass in a garden, and I'd even hidden the Mini excavator before they came.

 

[imago]

Why were you digging there? They won't wear it for construction or drainage works by the homeowner or anyone else as they put the expectation that you'd consult 'before you dig' and then use a CAT.

If a home owner is digging over his garden to plant flowers or whatever then it's unreasonable to expect them to have the knowledge or equipment to check, or to expect that a service would be affected by normal domestic activities. The utilities companies will get out of it where they can and expect someone else to pay, but they know when they're on a looser and sort it sharpish.

 

[Poptasticdave]

DNO's seem to be very careless ..... Mum's house has elec service cable 'snaking' up drive ..... It comes on to property under street gate, wanders off to under lawn, about 3" down, then back under drive, then across drive under a narrow grass strip (typical 1950's drive ), then back under concrete and into house under the concrete front door step. Over the years dad caught his garden fork round it and lifted it to the surface loads of times when digging the strip down the middle of the drive. When house was extended in '76 builders 'found' it three times: digging foundations, replacing front door step and digging soak away for rainwater drain.

DNO not at all interested though: it's not faulty so they won't look at it ( unless mum pays for a "service locational change " (northern power)