Shielding exposed hot wire - insulation deteriorated


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Old 02-24-16, 04:33 AM
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Question Shielding exposed hot wire - insulation deteriorated

I'm in Australia - the insulation on the incoming active wire to my home has deteriorated, leaving the wire exposed. I guess usually heat shrink tubing could be used over the wire, but there is no way of isolating it to slide the tubing on, without having it removed by the electrical supplier. Are there any other methods that could be used to insulate it? I'm aware its live and unprotected on the supply side.

Thanks

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Old 02-24-16, 05:00 AM
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Time to call the power company, do not touch it!
 
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Old 02-24-16, 05:05 AM
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Its the home owners responsibility here, past their heavy duty cabling - I checked with them and they said you need an electrician to do the job. I probably will, I guess I just wanted to get an idea of how they would do it (other than replace the wiring).
 
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Old 02-24-16, 05:51 AM
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I don't know what the process is in Australia, but in the US, power company comes out and disconnects power at the pole (cut the wire).
Then, electrician comes out, fix the problem. You call power company again to hook-up power from the pole again.

Some electrician will do the repair without cutting power. But have to be real careful.
Power company does that anyway when they are connecting/disconnecting from the pole. Cannot cut power there without bringing whole neighborhood down.
 
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Old 02-24-16, 07:52 AM
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ok, thanks for the advice
 
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Old 02-24-16, 10:59 AM
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I don't see any bare wiring in your picture but an electrician can just wrap it in electrical tape.
 
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Old 02-24-16, 10:38 PM
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Pete, I'm thinking that what looks like pink insulation is bare copper. I would also think that an electrician, wearing certified electrical gloves and protectors, would use a self-fusing tape to wrap the bare copper.

At any rate, not a job for a DIYer.
 
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Old 02-24-16, 10:57 PM
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Hmmmm..... I had thought that the odd colored wire was hot and the other neutral. Australia has 230v power. No split legs.

Agreed.... not a DIY job.
 
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Old 02-25-16, 05:30 AM
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That is correct, the exposed copper is underneath the degraded pink insulation. Thanks, I'll get someone to look at it.
 
 

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