ᐅ Hit an electrical cable while drilling. What should I do?
Created on: 7 Jun 2019 13:50
B
benkler1401
Hello everyone,
I wanted to install child safety gates on the stairs in our house (built in 2018) and accidentally drilled outside the designated installation area, hitting an electrical cable at the height of the tile skirting.
At first, the residual-current device (RCD) tripped, but since I wasn’t sure of the cause, I reset it. Surprisingly, all the circuit breakers stayed on, so I continued drilling. Just at the last millimeter of the hole, the basement circuit breaker tripped (I was drilling on the ground floor). I reset the basement breaker and tested the hole with a voltage tester, moving it back and forth—no voltage was detected.
Now I would like to ask you: what should I do next? What would be the most practical approach? Just fill the hole with some silicone and insert a wall plug? Or how would you proceed?
Thank you very much, best regards
I wanted to install child safety gates on the stairs in our house (built in 2018) and accidentally drilled outside the designated installation area, hitting an electrical cable at the height of the tile skirting.
At first, the residual-current device (RCD) tripped, but since I wasn’t sure of the cause, I reset it. Surprisingly, all the circuit breakers stayed on, so I continued drilling. Just at the last millimeter of the hole, the basement circuit breaker tripped (I was drilling on the ground floor). I reset the basement breaker and tested the hole with a voltage tester, moving it back and forth—no voltage was detected.
Now I would like to ask you: what should I do next? What would be the most practical approach? Just fill the hole with some silicone and insert a wall plug? Or how would you proceed?
Thank you very much, best regards
What about the back side of the wall? Is there an electrical outlet or something similar nearby? Installation zones aside, my kitchen outlets are located above the cabinets. I also run wiring completely from bottom to top there, crossing installation zones. That’s common practice. For this reason, it’s a good idea to take photos of all walls after installing wiring.
I can’t imagine that you can’t see the cable. Have you tried shining a flashlight directly into the hole? Repairing will be difficult since the cable is fixed inside the wall. You would need to open the wall a bit larger and then repair the cable using heat shrink connectors.
Connect the drill to a different electrical circuit and see if the breaker trips there as well. If it does, it’s likely that the drill is defective. If nothing happens, I would recommend an insulation test...
I can’t imagine that you can’t see the cable. Have you tried shining a flashlight directly into the hole? Repairing will be difficult since the cable is fixed inside the wall. You would need to open the wall a bit larger and then repair the cable using heat shrink connectors.
Connect the drill to a different electrical circuit and see if the breaker trips there as well. If it does, it’s likely that the drill is defective. If nothing happens, I would recommend an insulation test...
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