Tearing down a wall in my house to make space for a door, what do I do with the power connections?

[PJJ]

As the title suggests, I made a big hole in my house to install a door, and split 1 room into 2, 1 room will be a storage room, the other a staff quarters toilet, but the PVC with the power cables for one of the plugs is now hanging in mid air (the breaker going to that part of the house is off, and everyone knows not to turn anything back on) but where the PVC is now hanging my door needs to be, so do I just snip the PVC at the edge and use insulation tape on the L,N to keep them separate and still inside the PVC and forget about it?  

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, PJJ said:

...  do I just snip the PVC at the edge and use insulation tape on the L,N to keep them separate and still inside the PVC and forget about it?  

Did that once, and when the electrician saw it, he wrapped me over the knuckles.

Maybe try and move the plug to next to the door frame?

If you want to cut it off, try and pull the wires back to the DB?

[___]

 If you intend using the conduit again, even just part of it, leave the wires in there for now. You can then use the existing wire to pull new wire later (ie the existing wire becomes the fisher line). If you don't intend using it again, at least pull the wire out so some idiot (aka you in ten years) doesn't attempt to follow them or use them later.

Edit: Also, I think the way you're supposed to do it is to short the wires together, so that if some other idiot turns on the breaker it will trip and not electrocute someone.

Edited July 19, 2018 by plonkster

[PJJ]

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

Also, I think the way you're supposed to do it is to short the wires together, so that if some other idiot turns on the breaker it will trip and not electrocute someone.

Any electricians here that can confirm?

[___]

1 hour ago, PJJ said:

Any electricians here that can confirm?

I saw that trick on American home improvement shows (they always screw a wire nut on it). I also recall from high school that when you work on overhead lines, as an extra measure after turning off the main power (which might be some distance away), you'd throw a chain or cable over the lines and tie it to ground, deliberately creating a short. Yes, big sparks fly if someone messes up, but it is better than the alternative. But yes, let's get the opinion of a sparkie.

Edited July 19, 2018 by plonkster

[PJJ]

7 hours ago, plonkster said:

deliberately creating a short. Yes, big sparks fly if someone messes up, but it is better than the alternative

That is WAAAAAAAAAAY, better than the alternative of being a braaibroodtjie

a couple of years ago I lived with a mate and his parents in Irene, a very old part of Irene, they still had/have overhead power lines going to every house, one night, there was a massive storm outside, wind was going crazy, I looked out of the Window, next moment sparks galore, two cables met each other, and boof off goes the power, it was there that I realized why we need isolators

[SilverNodashi]

You can join the two wires with ferrels and heatshrink tubing, but I don't like joints in hard to reach places, as when something goes wrong, it generally happens there. Move the plug to this side of the wall, or run new wires from the DB to the old plug. 

[PaulF007]

I always like the idea of having options in the future. so I would leave the wire as is. You never know you might one day want to add a light / heater or some thing above the door. 

So option one  is to add a plug above the door , just add a 2x4 case about 50 mm above the frame with the conduit in it  and tape the ends off with a ceramic connector and tape I (It is already a mess with the hole there so it would be not much effort to add the 2x4). Then you can just put a blank cover over the 2x4 and it will look quite neat. I would also add a short note inside the box explaining what breaker supply the box with power and why you did it, this will help future you and who else if they open the cover.

Option two (if you dont like the idea of having a cover plate on the wall) is to add a Junction Box inside the wall , with the same isolation and note as above ,  with a very thin layer of plaster over the cover ( Remember to take a picture of the location before closing). That way the wires is out of the way and sight but should you ever need a power point you just need to "knock" the plaster off from the cover plate and retrieve the wires. I have done this before and works well as you only need to knock with your finger to find the hollow spot .

Option three : If you are never ( and never say never ) going to need a point there the pull the wires from the piping and close the lot. 

Just as a note you should also keep record of the changes you made by the DB. I like to keep my "manual" inside the box so when you open the box it is in plain sight for who ever opens it. 

Oh and just because we all use different terms for things here is some picks