Can I ask you folk for some advice about the wiring of my flat

[Jerzy Bondov]

Moving on from this to electricity in the mouth as a general thing.  I had a dear cat that loved the chew the power lead for my laptop (when it was plugged in).  No matter what I did, that lovely fluff ball would be there, diligently nibbling.  He got through several.  But why I ask myself, why would he do that?  Apart from the fucking nuisance, surely live wires in the mouth are not pleasant? Why do these furry little guys do this?  Anyone?

Cats are fucking arseholes is why. Mine likes to get the sellotape and eat it. Total nob head.

Anyway Willbo you should say you chewed the wire because you thought it was liquorice.

[phantom_power]

I would wrap some electrical tape around any exposed wires and say it was like that when you got there. You should be able to do that without touching any wires but you could shut the fuses off while you do it to be on the safe side

Another option would be to get some conduit and shove the wiring in there but that might be difficult depending on where it is

[Buelligan]

I would say never, ever, fiddle around with electricity and wires and shit, if you don't know what you're doing.  Especially if you know an electrician is on the way to make sure it's OK so it's not like you urgently need to take a risk and fiddling with it just evidences the fact that you've fiddled with it, when you should not (fiddle with it).  Even if you are a small furry animal.  That is what I would say.

[Captain Z]

We once had a rabbit that I noticed was happily nibbling away behind the fridge. I realised what he was doing and reached in to pull him away, accidentally grabbed hold of the now exposed cable and gave myself a good jolt of 230 of the Queen's volts.

Rabbits you can understand because their instinct is to chew through roots, cats I can't explain.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Rabbits you can understand because their instinct is to chew through roots, cats I can't explain.

A friend had a rabbit that used to nibble at the green bits of their patterned carpet.

[markburgle]

I visit flats as a contractor sometimes and occasionally the council hires me to go round to one of their flats, and occasionally a guilty tenant there will start acting like I'm the council and start making excuses for something.

I could not give a shit. I'm not a council employee and whatever they're up to is none of my concern, I'm just there to do a job, and that's how this electrician will be as well.

[willbo]

what I'm scared of is that they're gonna see that room, see it needs re-wiring, and say the whole flat needs to be gutted and that I have to move while they do it, move somewhere else, or just have some gruelling thing of their workers being in my flat all week. Really stressing out about it tbh

[Buelligan]

Dear willbo, try to think about why you are stressing - is your worry helping you?  Sometimes a niggling thought about a thing can prompt us to take sensible action - worrying about a bus tanking down the hill towards you?  Never fear, step out of the road.  That sort of thing.

But a lot of us, I include myself in this, tend to what if about stuff.  Chase our fears down unfeasibly long and convoluted tunnels, tunnels becoming narrower and darker with every step, leaving the gentle safe reality of Now far behind.  This is not fun.  It does not help us.  It makes us unhappy. 

So, if you want, ask yourself what is happening right Now.  I'm guessing you are in glorious solitude in your room, safe and undisturbed.  That is the reality of Now for you.  Enjoy it.  Plenty of time to get a bit stressed and take action if that bus does come barreling down the hill towards you but right now, the road is empty.  Have a hug, make a nice cuppa, all is well.

[steve98]

^ This is true.

And I bet you're a great tenant, the last thing the landlord wants is to lose someone like you.

[phantom_power]

what I'm scared of is that they're gonna see that room, see it needs re-wiring, and say the whole flat needs to be gutted and that I have to move while they do it, move somewhere else, or just have some gruelling thing of their workers being in my flat all week. Really stressing out about it tbh

Electrical work like that doesn't tend to take that long and wouldn't normally involve too much invasiveness so I wouldn't worry too much

[willbo]

the wire goes in and out of the wall, and it's a mess and looks like it needs to be replaced. I just have nightmares of them saying, right the flat needs to be unoccupied while we chop the wall up. I just...really stressing out, I didn't need this

[Buelligan]

I'm pretty certain they are not going to say that.  When are they coming?

[willbo]

thanks, its supposed to be tommorow

[Buelligan]

I will be OK, try not to worry, pound to a penny, they'll be in an out in half an hour and all will be well.  Come tomorrow evening you'll be wondering why you ever gave it a moment's worry.

[Dr Trouser]

is it definitely a mains cable? you said it's black which implie it's an extension cable, which they shouldn't have used. Unless it's a 12v bulb in the cupboard?

Either way, you'll be fine, they'll make sure it's up to regs and repair if necessary (but it's a small job)

[willbo]

I've taken some photos of where the wire goes in and out of the wall and one of the room

they're on this link as they were showing up too big - https://imgur.com/a/Ns2cg57

[Buelligan]

Honestly, honestly, I'm no electrician but I'm pretty handy.  It doesn't look like it was done correctly (in the sense that it should be attached to the wall and inside a cover) but, even if they decide to replace it, it really would be nothing more than a few minutes' work.  Seriously, don't stress about it any more.  Everything will be OK.

[Dr Trouser]

Oh my god that contravenes so many regs. I suspect it was installed by a previous tenant not an electrician.

They'll rip it out, put in some conduit and get you sorted in 30-40 minutes.

[willbo]

thanks

it's also apparently got to take around 4 hours while they check every mains switch. Which seems like a socially gruelling thing to put me through considering I've been in lockdown for a year. It's tidying up enough as well, I've had to lug all my furniture around just to make the sockets accessible, it just seems like a really cruel thing to dump on me.

[Dr Trouser]

it's also apparently got to take around 4 hours while they check every mains switch.

err, you've either got a 27 bedroom mansion or they're talking drivel, unless there's a new long winded set of tests that are required these days, but I can't think of anything.

[willbo]

this is the letter they sent

[Dr Trouser]

Ah so you might not have an isolator swith on your CU (fusebox) if yod don;t they'll have to put one in. The Guiness trust should know surely? seems a bit rubbish on their part.

In all honesty it sounds like they haven't kept up to date with the maintenance of property electricals so it's good that in the long run you'll have it all checked and remedied to give you peace of mind

[jobotic]

This Guinness Trust?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-56888895

Was debating whether or not to post this as I didn't want to worry you.

[willbo]

oh a couple of the houses in the area have burned down in the last couple of decades I believe

[willbo]

the first check is over and it turned out the chewed wire was a phone cable from the previous owners, not an electric cable. Thanks everyone

[Buelligan]

Ah!  Thanks for letting us know, was thinking of you all day, so glad it all turned out well!

[willbo]

thanks. apparently the stuff they said would all be done today will now be done bit by bit, like fitting this new isolator switch. I'm relieved about that hanging wire though.

[Buelligan]

Yes, it's great, your news has cheered my day!

[Dr Trouser]

That is quite a chunky phone cable then (or you've got tiny skirting boards...)

Glad it's all done and you're up to safety code.

[Icehaven]

I moved about 2 months ago and about a fortnight ago we suddenly noticed an electric sounding hum coming from an inside wall. It definitely only started then as it's quite loud at the top of the stairs so we'd have noticed before if it had been there since we moved in, and it's not always there but it is more than it's not. It's the wall between the main bedroom and the stairs and isn't an outside wall or shared with a neighbour, so it's got to be something to do with wiring (unless some mice have got a tiny little grow going) but I'm loathe to say anything to the letting agent as they'll almost definitely have to get an electrician to open the wall to see what's going on, then we'll have to wait for a plasterer to come and fix it and it'll be a mess in the meantime etc. At the same time however I obviously don't want the house to burn down so I'm probably going to have to tell them at some point. I've not tried turning everything off at the fuse box then back on one by one to see if it's connected to one particular fuse yet but even if we do there's not much we can do about it other than tell the agent and an electrician would just do it again anyway. Ah well, we've got contents insura...Oh fuck no we don't.