Pond pump. Question

r3nu4l

Okay, we have a small pond in our garden. When we moved in the owners had left the pond pump in there.

It looks similar to this:


Now, here's my problem with it. There is a power cable running from the pump, along the garden fence and into my garage whereupon the cable ends in a 3-pin socket socket. Not a plug but a socket.

Let me try to explain. I would expect the pump cable to end with a plug that I could plug into the wall in the same way that my television power cable ends in a plug that I plug into a socket in the wall.

Instead, the pump cable ends in with a socket, not a plug. How am I supposed to connect this to the mains??
Any help appreciated.

10-10-20

Whatever you do, don't wire-up a plug from the mains.
It's hardly unlikely that they terminated the wire with a socket, as this would be a massive health hazard. Can you use a standard mains tester to see if there is power in the socket? Just in case you have found a simple trailing-lead which appears to be connected to the pump...

At a guess, they may have another power point in somewhere in the garden and powered the pump & ran this trailing-lead from it to the shed...?

r3nu4l

Thanks for the reply 10-10-20. Sorry, I'm not making this very clear...

The cable from the pump ends in a socket that is not wired up to anything. I've followed the cable directly from the pump to the end of the cable and it's a socket ending, not a plug ending.

I've attached a diagram (not to scale)

On the left is the pump unit, in the middle is the cable and on the right is the socket (where I think a plug should be).

10-10-20

Cut it off.
Somebody's taking the mick!
You can't have any appliance powered like this.

r3nu4l

10-10-20 wrote: »

Cut it off.
Somebody's taking the mick!
You can't have any appliance powered like this.

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused!

However, I believe that they must have had this hooked up to something, they were very, very keen gardeners and also ran a fruit farm...

I just don't know what they were doing.

10-10-20

Unless they were generating electricity off it, it's wrong - wrong - wrong!

The Sweeper

r3nu4l,

I've known some people in the past who were very protective of their electrical equipment, and used to wire it up in such a way as to ensure nobody would steal it. Their personal repertoire of cables included the highly dubious cable with a three pin plug at both ends, rigged up precisely to plug in an apparatus wired the way you've described.

Highly dangerous, naturally, and I'm really not sure how offputting it would be to a thief, but any chance they've rigged this up as a sort of home-made security device?

r3nu4l

I'm baffled. MAJD, ordinarily I would say 'yes, that's a possibility' but the cable goes from the pond, along a fence (where it is tacked in) and then through a hole drilled in a wall and into the garage before ending in this socket-that-should-be-a-plug-thing.

So, on reflection, I'd have to say 'No' as the fact that the cable goes through a wall should be enough to deter thieves. The only thing a thief could do to steal the pump is to cut the cable, thereby shortening it by about 4 feet in length.

I'll video the pump and cable ending this weekend and put it on youtube or something (assuming I find the battery charger for the camera, I couldn't find it last night!). You'll see for yourself. Anyway, the pond has been fine for 19 months without this pump operating so I'm not too pushed. The frogs and single fish in there seem happy

r3nu4l

Well I had time to sort this at the weekend. I removed the 'socket' and replaced it with a plug. Plugged it in and hey presto, it works

Thanks for the replies, helped me confirm that I wasn't mad to be doubting what my eyes saw