Chasing mains supply cable

Hi

we’re finishing off a renovation of our house and would like to hide our main supply cable. It’s one of the old ones (wrapped in lead and hessian(?)), and rich by the front door. I was thinking about just cutting out the plaster (carefully) and burying it in the wall. Is this a really bad idea?

YES it is a REALLY bad idea.

You can't bury cables in the wall that are not protected by an RCD. And in any event moving and old cable might end in tears or worse.

Slip a bit of trunking around it.

As Dave says  .    Or box it in ... no way should you bury it in the wall . 

simply moving it could also cause damage and you dont want to be near it if it goes bang...

Andy™ said:

simply moving it could also cause damage and you dont want to be near it if it goes bang...

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And if it does go bang and you cannot get away faster than the speed of light then it will hurt, it will hurt a lot and will carry on hurting until you are in no position to feel it any more

Just don’t even touch it, don’t breathe on it, in fact don’t even look at it the wrong way, leave well alone, as a general rule the older the cable the more fragile they are, and that sound like a decent aged cable.

I have been very close to a service cable that blew...a lot closer than most people have have been and lived , without so much as a singed hair or scorch  mark. My washing machine will tell a different tale of what it had to cope with regarding skid marks.

cables going whoooompfhhhhhh are the reason that the jointing lads wear fireproof overalls, and even the digger drivers!

also, as someone pointed out during my apprenticeship..."no matter how much you scream it will NOT turn off the supply/machine "

I will echo what others have said. What you propose is pure madness.

PILC cable is quite robust if you know how to handle it but unlike fine wine, age doesn’t improve it.