Making cables safe after removing light

Persius

Hi all

I removed a built-in wardrobe from a bedroom in our house yesterday. House originally built in 1979, and no rewiring done in upstairs bedrooms since then. Only live and neutral. No earth.

The wardrobe included a light fitting. So I now have two sets of cables hanging out of the wall (see pic). Each set is joined together with an old connector block, and I have wrapped insulation tape around the connector blocks.

I know that I need to keep each set joined up, because in another bedroom, I cut the wire and had no metal connection to the connector blocks, and none of the upstairs lights worked. Once I stripped back a bit of wire from each cable and put then back into the connector box, then everything worked again.

I would like to shove these wires back into the wall, but am a bit concerned at having live wires stuffed into the wall when they are just held together with an old plastic connector wrapped with insulation tape.

What's the best way to make these safe (and not look too ugly)?

Thanks

Tuco88

If its up stairs can you pull them up into the attic? They need to be placed in a joint box no matter what, small coffin type should do with new connectors/tape. Or put a wall light there?

Risteard81

With the greatest of respect it seems to me that the OP doesn't know what he/she is doing, and therefore shouldn't be doing it. Call an Electrician (REC).

I'm not a fan of tape...or chocy blocks for that matter I'd butt crimp the ends (with a ratcheting tool) and leave them in a coffin.....well tbh I'd disconnect and remove the entire set of conductors if it's redundant.

Tape disintegrates with age and or humidity. The stuff for car looms is far superior than PVC tape.

Risteard81

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Tape disintegrates with age and or humidity.

It also provides no strain relief to the connections.

2011

Hi Persius, do the cables have black rubber insulation ? Or do they have plastic / PVC type insulation?

If they are the older rubber type you may well have more serious issues to deal with. As the house has not been wired since the seventies it needs a rewire at this stage. Not only have the regulations changed substantially but (generally) the electrical loads have also increased dramatically.

To answer your question:
If possible it would best to remove the cables completely by pulling them back to the previous point. A link cable or two may be required to keep other parts of the circuit working. This could be straight forward. Impossible to say without seeing it.

Either way it is time to get a good electrician in to survey the installation.

Persius

2011 wrote: »

Hi Persius, do the cables have black rubber insulation ? Or do they have plastic / PVC type insulation?

If they are the older rubber type you may well have more serious issues to deal with. As the house has not been wired since the seventies it needs a rewire at this stage. Not only have the regulations changed substantially but (generally) the electrical loads have also increased dramatically.

The copper cables have a black plastic/PVC type insulation, and then the whole lot wrapped in the grey cable.

We did renovation work downstairs recently so had an electrician in then. He also rewired electric shower, bathroom light and extractor fan in bathroom upstairs. He didn't express any concern with the upstairs wiring in general.

The only thing he said is that he wouldn't attach a new bathroom mirror light to the existing wiring in the en-suite, as it had no earth - just live and neutral. I did later find a double-insulated plastic bathroom mirror light which I fitted there.

I do plan to get an electrician in again shortly to fix the above and a few other small jobs upstairs. Recommendations in South Dublin appreciated.

Thanks again.

2011

Persius wrote: »

The copper cables have a black plastic/PVC type insulation, and then the whole lot wrapped in the grey cable.

That's good news. It was hard to tell from the photo.