Tracing hidden electrical main wiring

[Turion]

Wonder if any of you Electrical / DIY types can help here. In my house there are a couple of main sockets that don't work (dead). I would like to get them working, but need to find out where the wires go. They are hidden by plaster so don't know where to start.

Any of you know a solution. Such as injecting a signal and then tracing it? Any ideas appreciated

[darmstadt]

I used to use a small handheld metal detector for just that. Probably Maplins have something like that still

[Archangel]

Wonder if any of you Electrical / DIY types can help here. In my house there are a couple of main sockets that don't work (dead). I would like to get them working, but need to find out where the wires go. They are hidden by plaster so don't know where to start.

Any of you know a solution. Such as injecting a signal and then tracing it? Any ideas appreciated

Sounds like you have quite a problem there! The two sockets should have been on a ring, so a fault in one cable (nail through it etc) would not cause the sockets to fail (although this in itself is a problem as the remaining cable would be potentially overloaded and the broken cable would be a hazard). Sounds like they are on a spur, this is not allowed (only 1 spur is allowed per socket on a ring, and not a spur from a spur). Or they may be wired to a single fuse (or MCB) somewhere you have not found.

generally wires go either directly up, or directly down the wall (this used to be a regulation, but has been relaxed to allow horizontal wires) or are fed "back to back" through the wall. So you are looking at removing some floorboards above or below to trace the wire.

If you give us more information (as much as you can, i.e. new house, old house, extensiojn, diy, fuses, mcbs, where, what etc) about the whole installation, and the sockets which are defunct I may be able to give you some pointers.

[Turion]

There's no ring main. More like a star system. Continental you see. I checked the fuse box, but these sockets do not seem to connected. If I can trace the wires I can connect them either to the fuse box, or to an existing circuit.

[hyperD]

Wonder if any of you Electrical / DIY types can help here. In my house there are a couple of main sockets that don't work (dead). I would like to get them working, but need to find out where the wires go. They are hidden by plaster so don't know where to start.

Any of you know a solution. Such as injecting a signal and then tracing it? Any ideas appreciated

I use this (both pipes and wire)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapitest-Wir.../dp/B0001NPZ8I

Although not a cheap as getting the wife to hammer in a load of random nails into the plasterboard and wait for her to fly across the room swearing...

[Turion]

I use this (both pipes and wire)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapitest-Wir.../dp/B0001NPZ8I

Although not a cheap as getting the wife to hammer in a load of random nails into the plasterboard and wait for her to fly across the room swearing...

And i'm not laughin at the wife joke. It's the crap reviews that device gets. Have you actually bought one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapitest-Wir...ustomerReviews

[Ardesco]

And i'm not laughin at the wife joke. It's the crap reviews that device gets. Have you actually bought one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapitest-Wir...ustomerReviews

I have one of these and it works perfectly. You have to know how to use it though. Turn it on using the dial and turn up the dial until it beeps, then turn down the dial until the beeping stops and then go looking for pipework/wires/etc. If you turn the dial up to full it will constantly beep and if you only just turn it on it will never beep.

I would suggest the users writing the reviews don't know how to use one. I haven't gone through any pipework/wires since I got mine (although you have to realistically expect it to have an error margin. For example if you have a double thickness wall with pipes behind the first layer of bricks it probably wont sense it.).

[hyperD]

And i'm not laughin at the wife joke. It's the crap reviews that device gets. Have you actually bought one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapitest-Wir...ustomerReviews

I have one - I just grabbed the nearest link, didn't read the reviews, but it does reinforce my theory that the average DIYer is illiterate and has knuckles that drag 1" above the floor.

The wife thing wasn't a joke, it was true and I'm deeply offended you find that funny. It took alot of grovelling and money to enable me to keep the house.

[hyperD]

I have one of these and it works perfectly. You have to know how to use it though. Turn it on using the dial and turn up the dial until it beeps, then turn down the dial until the beeping stops and then go looking for pipework/wires/etc. If you turn the dial up to full it will constantly beep and if you only just turn it on it will never beep.

I would suggest the users writing the reviews don't know how to use one. I haven't gone through any pipework/wires since I got mine (although you have to realistically expect it to have an error margin. For example if you have a double thickness wall with pipes behind the first layer of bricks it probably wont sense it.).

You'd be surprised at what it can pick up - my uncle's Prince Albert for instance...

[FiveTimes]

Wonder if any of you Electrical / DIY types can help here. In my house there are a couple of main sockets that don't work (dead). I would like to get them working, but need to find out where the wires go. They are hidden by plaster so don't know where to start.

Any of you know a solution. Such as injecting a signal and then tracing it? Any ideas appreciated

Is it a double socket that doesn't work ? Have you tried replacing the socket ?

If its a double socket then this is allowed as a spur. That would be my first point of call.

It could just be a loose connection in the socket and the wiring could be fine.