Loose wire in junction box

Hi 

Hope somebody can help me.

I have two consumer units, one supplying original house and one supplying small extension.

They are both wired into a junction box which then connects to the meter.

One of the cables in junction box has fallen out (supply to extension).

I can see where cable should go and I can access the screws that tighten onto cable.

Is it safe for me to tighten screw?, obviously not touching anything else apart from screw.

Should only take a couple of seconds.

Thanks

Tim

Screw could be live if its the live that has fallen out BUT as an electrician i would be checking all the connections whilst i was there also most of the time access to screws etc from the CU towards the incoming supply are secured with seals as they are the responsibility and owned by meter company  / local electricity company so probably not yours to tighten anyway.

Pic might help

Fallen out... thats a bit worrying! 

Dont touch it if there is no means of isolation you could become a part of the national grid.

Does it look like this?

Blue Duck said:

Fallen out... thats a bit worrying! 

Dont touch it if there is no means of isolation you could become a part of the national grid.

Does it look like this?

Click to expand...

Yes that is the box installed by builders when extension was built. 

there is a good chance it will be live, which you wont be if you touch it

Tim Nippard said:

I can see where cable should go and I can access the screws that tighten onto cable.

Is it safe for me to tighten screw?, obviously not touching anything else apart from screw.

Click to expand...

Our screwdrivers are insulated to 1000V but even so, it is generally illegal to work on things that are "live" anyway, even for "proper" electricians. [There are very good reasons for this!!]

john..

This is definitely not a DIY fix. Keep clear and do not touch it, and call an electrician.

It's after the meter so it's your electrics not the DNO's

Tim Nippard said:

Should only take a couple of seconds.

Click to expand...

That is plenty of time to kill you. And this is NO joke. Electricity can kill a healthy adult in less than half a second. As has been mentioned, the correct solution is not just get this cable back in, but verify the security of all of the terminations. If the builders have left one lose there could be others. Builders are notoriously bad at doing any electrical work correctly. You may be able to do it and get the power working, but if you do it wrong, it may be the last thing you ever do.

Doc H.

If you have insulated screwdirvers, it isn't hard to do, BUT you must turn off the boards first, otheriwse there will be  alot of arcing and sparking. Ideally, turmn off both boards and do something illegal called remove the main fuse. Unless you have worked with live electrics before, it does come seriously unrecommended. I would advise you don't, and get an electrican to double check builders handiwork.

might be lucky and have an isolator before the henley

How recently was this 2nd board added? it would take 2 loose screws for the cable to "fall out".

Murdoch said:

How recently was this 2nd board added? it would take 2 loose screws for the cable to "fall out".

Click to expand...

It looks like cable wasn't pushed all the way in as second screw is in to far to have ever held cable.

Thanks everyone who responded to this post, I will be contacting a local electrician to make the repairs and check the other connections.

Murdoch said:

How recently was this 2nd board added? it would take 2 loose screws for the cable to "fall out".

Click to expand...

True, unless bob the builder only just tucked it under the first screw? Which is quite feasible. The best course of action I would suggest is employ an electrician to check all the terminations in this block and inside the consumer units and the earth wires. And to double check a reading called the earth loop impedance. Which will basically confirm the incoming supply is all good with no other nasty bad joints on the Live or Earth either. A standard 1hour call out charge would be plenty of time to check over all of the incoming supply connections and the bus-bar to MCB connections etc. We have another recent thread where a lose connection inside the fuse box resulted in a protective RCD switch failing. A few quick tests would be very worth while investment in my opinion.

Doc H.

Tim Nippard said:

It looks like cable wasn't pushed all the way in as second screw is in to far to have ever held cable.

Thanks everyone who responded to this post, I will be contacting a local electrician to make the repairs and check the other connections.

Click to expand...

Where about are you? Maybe one of our members is local to you?

Doc H.