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As mentioned in the pond power thread, I have an outbuilding about 30m or from the house. It had mains power until the buried power cable was struck by a digger doing works in the garden.
We knew there was a risk and were fairly sanguine about it when it happened. I've had a quote to replace but because an electrician in the past bodged the outbuilding wiring pretty badly, the whole thing needs replacing which also involves replacing our home consumer unit.
We still have some of the original connection wiring which has been cut by the digger, poking out of the ground.
We're planning on having some further work done which may involve more excavations or at least posts being sunk into the ground in the area.
Can we put in a temporary splice to connect back to the outbuilding safely? I'm assuming no electrician would do it as it wouldn't meet either the electrical regs or building regs, but in principle if we used suitably-rated enclosures would it be allowable?
If it's a swa cable then just get a joint kit, no problem.
Hmm, don't think it is - it was buried in a conduit. I can get the joint kit and use some armoured cable for the remainder and just run it across the garden temporarily until we get the rest of the works done.
Just twist the cut wires together and wrap them in leccy tape.
Quick answer, yes. It can be jointed. There is always a way.
There is no legal need to upgrade the consumer unit in the house. I'd presume it doesnt have RCD protection?
If you repair a fault on an existing installation, the rest of the installation does not need to be upgraded to meet current regulations. Adequate earthing and bonding needs to be checked, but if it currently has no RCD protection etc, then for a repair to that circuit, it does not need upgrading.
However, it does make sense to spend a little more to get the installation up to current standards if it is very old, or, dangerous. A dangerous installation should not be reconnected.
Anything new added, does have to comply with current Regs., and that may mean a new consumer unit, or partial rewire.