Copper/compression joints/electric cable embedded into a concrete floor issues

[Steve-O]

Hi There

First post here so Hello to you all !

Bit of background : The beginning of some work started yesterday in my lounge, which supposed to only take 1 day is now dragging over to today, becuase one of the firms employees used an electric chisel on the plastered wall, and nipped 2 central heating pipes and an electrical wire .

As a result i now have the following repair sat in a hole in my concrete floor:

I am concerned about this on two fronts :

1) Are compression joints ok to be set in concrete? Common sense is telling me not.
2)The copper now protrudes above the floor level due to have to have a U shape secion inserted, as the two pipes are two close together to have compression joints and elbows close together. This also means if they want to put plaster on the wall to hide the joint they will need to slap on over an inch. Again this doesnt seem right to me.
3) And finally - not that this is an elecrical forum - but the wire they repairs is a connector block wrapped in what i have been told is a waterproof tape. I dont think this is a suitable repair to be set in concrete. Thoughts?

I am tempted to tell them to leave the work exposed, remove the entire offending copper and join on some HEP and make a cleaner job of it, but that would still mean some joints under concrete. As for the electrical issue - i was thinking some sort of small sealed junction box is the only fix other than running a new cable !!

Any advice on the pic above is greatly appreciated.

Thanks !

 

[Blake]

I would not be happy with that repair and no I personally would not like compression fittings located in a concrete floor.

They should have soldered all joints and ensured they are suitably protected from the concrete.

I'm no sparky, but the repair to the cable does not look great.

 

[Steve-O]

I think i am tempted to instruct them to leave it all exposed (since they are back today to finish the work to the rest of the room) and either re-do the work myself to a level where i can sleep at night, or get someone in for an inspection.

I am guessing Brass or plastic joints under concrete aren't great, and soldered being the lesser evil of the lot? IN terms of shielding the pipes - is there something specific you can get from screwfix etc that you wrap around the pipes or would a heavy duty bin liner or something protect the pipes from touching concrete. It looks like the original pipework has some sort of woven sheath over it.

Cheers

Steve

 

[HoodedClaw]

3) And finally - not that this is an elecrical forum - but the wire they repairs is a connector block wrapped in what i have been told is a waterproof tape. I dont think this is a suitable repair to be set in concrete. Thoughts?

Oh my! I've only done my part P and I know that is about as safe as bonding a live to the copper itself.

They have to get a qualified sparky in, if they say they have, tell them to leave it and that you will give your local building inspector a ring, they will pop out and have a look in the same day. Thats one bad fix! Personally I wouldn't call the copper anything more than a bodge, they should dig out more and repair it further back and protect the copper from concrete better. also far to many bends for the flow.

 

[Steve-O]

I spoke to my local council's building control and they said its not something they would come and look at - they only focus on new builds bathrooms, kitchens etc..

Agreed the plumbings not as good as it should be - needs work for sure

As an safer fix - would a junction box be a better fix than a connector block for the electrical bodge ?

Cheers

Steve

 

[HoodedClaw]

Well that's not very good, I guess I know my building officer quite well by now and he's really helpful

17th edition says you cant just lay concrete over the wire, it has to run in a channel/conduit/trunking, otherwise it effects the rating of the wire (actually the channel will too to but to a lesser extent) so now its exposed they can't just pour over the top, the exposed part needs some condiuit. The very minimum that I can remember would be a waterproof repair box for the repair, trunking out both ends. It looks like the cable is in trunking on the right as it goes under the floor? In which case I'd replace the complete length of wire removing the fix and just reconnect the trunking. (I use trunking and conduit as the same word although I realise its 2 different protections!)

If they aren't willing to repair it fully - their work is complete and I would only pay them however much is left after the repairs are done up to the quote.

 

[Steve-O]

I've now got their plumber coming back to sort out the plumbing (should be interesting to see his face lol) - the plasterers are here and said at least one of the joints would be exposed above the floor and out of the wall - thats no good since the skirting and carpet gripper will not go back. So hopefully when he comes back i can state i want solder joints only with the best route for flow possible and then wrapped before any concrete goes down.

I've got an independent sparky i have used before to look at the pic and right away he called back and said thats absolutely no good. He's proposed that a sealed/weatherproof box be used with some extra trunking on the exposed parts. Sounds good to me so i have him coming later at my own expense to sort the electrical side out. Going to tell the plumber to leave the wire alone.

Hopefully i can get this all straighened out before the workmen leave so i can get them to lay the concrete down.

 

[wheeto]

The relevant part for the electrical side is that any non-permanent joint has to be accessible for testing and inspection. The choc blocks that I imagine are under that insulating tape are NOT permanent.

Suitable joints are either crimped or soldered, and best practice would have them in a potted enclosure. Hope this helps.

 

[wheeto]

... sealed/weatherproof box ...

Not good enough on its own (see my previous post) the connections have to be permanent; screw-types are not acceptable.

 

[Steve-O]

Hi Wheeto

I think thats my man's plan for the wire. He's very attentive to detail so i wouldn't expect any less. Will run it by him anyway just to be sure!

Cheers

Steve