Discuss MICC/PYRO. CABLE FAULT. / FUSE NOT BLOWING in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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M

MOGTARYAN

Hi. I have a question about MICC/PYRO cable.
I have only very rarely worked with this type of cable , I've mostly worked in domestic wiring.
However the other day a friend asked me to change a faulty single socket for him, ( piece of cake). It didn't turn out to be !!!
He lived in a flat built in the 1960's and it was wired in MICC cable. A ring main . Protected by a rewirable 30 amp fuse.
I fitted a new single socket and as I screwed the socket back, I nipped one of the cables and caused a short! I said to my friend, don't worry, done that a few times, and went to change the fusewire. Fusewire still intact ( and correct size ).
I have a few theories on what has happened, but would like to here others points of view.
What is the lifespan of MICC cable?
Cheers!!!
 
Hi Mate, firstly what are the theories you speak of? you say you nicked the cable and caused a short, may seem a daft question but how do you know nicking the cable caused the "short circuit"?
 
So you changed the socket live?
If I'm reading this correctly there was a bang as you screwed the socket back but the fuse didn't blow?
 
Pulled the wrong fuse?

Old BS 3036 fuses don't always go when a short circuit happens briefly!
 
Hi, thanks for the feedback.
I was definitely pulling the right fuse by the way.
I think my friend may have confused the situation as there is only 1 ring main in the flat. (It is a duplex, so has an upstairs ). He told me ,none of the sockets upstairs were working, ( it was late at night, when this happened) so I took his word for it). I now believe that some sockets were live, which alters the game, as I was looking at a ring main with a fuse in and in my mind no power to any sockets. Thanks for the comment about Zs, unfortunately my friend lives miles away and I only had a couple of tools on me, I've rigged up some temp power for his essentials, but when I see him again will investigate further.
Thanks for all your help, great site this and I would welcome any more suggestions.
 
Hi, thanks for the feedback.
I was definitely pulling the right fuse by the way.
I think my friend may have confused the situation as there is only 1 ring main in the flat. (It is a duplex, so has an upstairs ). He told me ,none of the sockets upstairs were working, ( it was late at night, when this happened) so I took his word for it). I now believe that some sockets were live, which alters the game, as I was looking at a ring main with a fuse in and in my mind no power to any sockets. Thanks for the comment about Zs, unfortunately my friend lives miles away and I only had a couple of tools on me, I've rigged up some temp power for his essentials, but when I see him again will investigate further.
Thanks for all your help, great site this and I would welcome any more suggestions.

Hi bud,never,ever "take a word",from a tramp or a judge.Late? Miles away? Few tools? Does not matter.

Assess the situation yourself. If some sockets were working,and some not,you have two circuits,and if needed,you should have isolated both.

Micc is like railway track,it will function without issue,for generations,with us hardly noticing it.:)
 
Hi bud,never,ever "take a word",from a tramp or a judge.Late? Miles away? Few tools? Does not matter.

Assess the situation yourself. If some sockets were working,and some not,you have two circuits,and if needed,you should have isolated both.

Micc is like railway track,it will function without issue,for generations,with us hardly noticing it.:)

Try telling that to the poor sods using Southern Rail!
 
It's a shame the industry has moved away from MICC cable, may prevent persons who shouldn't be dabbling with electrical circuits, we find caretakers one of the worst. I think I made 2 ends on a piece of pyro in college then luckily we secured some heritage work which allowed me to dress and make of some MICC cabling. I remember as a kid helping my dad in the summer holiday with school works which you could do then and helping him remake a Imperial MICC sub main cable. To a new Distribution Board we were installing was Memsheild 2 gear then.
 
It took me quite along time and constant demonstrations from my dad to dress MICC into a fixed Bess box position. After that job I had quite a lot of respect for the older generation of sparks. We've got a job coming up with a load of 6mm / Imperisl MICC radials coming out of old mem Distribution Boards and we are recruiting my dad out of retirement to lend a hand in case we run up trouble. I can make a end off and dress but would take longer then we'll experienced sparks, something a lot of companies can't understand or see, not like a soft skin fp cable knife, strip and connect!
 
Unfortunately cost is king and it costs too much in terms of outlay on cable and time spent using a degree of skill to make ends and dress and clip neatly.

Christ, I've turned in to my tradesmen of yesteryear!:eek:
 
Unfortunately cost is king and it costs too much in terms of outlay on cable and time spent using a degree of skill to make ends and dress and clip neatly.

Christ, I've turned in to my tradesmen of yesteryear!:eek:

I agree about the cost and time, we've had a drum of new 2L 1.5 orange left over from a job, must be 20 years ago and the cost to buy that drum now is astronomical.
 

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