Telephone cable

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by fred812, Jul 29, 2021.

  1. fred812

    fred812 Screwfix Select

    Appreciate this isnt strictly electrical but thought I would try here first.

    We have a telephone cable winding its way around the house that appears to emerge from the property near where all telephone gubbins is and disappears back in the other side of the house emerging near the TV. The cable outside is looks too long, isn't clipped in very well and looks a mess. We don't need it either.

    What's the right way of getting it removed? Does it have to be BT or can it be anyone who knows what they are doing, ie an electrician. We need to speak to an Alarm person soon too because we have a redundant one that needs properly decommissioning. Would they be able to help?

    Thanks for any advice.
     
  2. Jimbo

    Jimbo Screwfix Select

    Do you have a BT line box as the master socket?
     
  3. FlyByNight

    FlyByNight Screwfix Select

    Is this an unused extension run by yourself or a previous owner/tenant? And as said, do you have a BT master?

    I am going to guess it is a DIY extension and if so, with some guidance, easy to remove yourself.

    As for te alram - depending on your capabilities, it should be easy enough to do. What type is it? Does it work? do you have teh codes?
     
  4. Bazza

    Bazza Screwfix Select

    Give your alarm bloke £20 and ask him to rip it out.
     
  5. fred812

    fred812 Screwfix Select

    Hi all, thanks for the replies. Yes got a BT line and broadband. This line was run by the previous owner.

    ** Apologies, been able to access the house end of the wire and it looks like its on and extension socket currently disconnected, so should be easy enough to remove my self.

    Apologies again and thanks for the replies.
     
  6. fred812

    fred812 Screwfix Select

    Its a Visonic alarm but we don't have any information on how to operate it. There are wireless movement sensors in every room that go red when you move.
     
  7. Teki

    Teki Screwfix Select

    Visonic isn't a popular brand but nonetheless still good. You may struggle to find an alarm company that is familar with them. They are now owned by Tyco. Which model do you have, PowerMaster?
     
  8. FlyByNight

    FlyByNight Screwfix Select

    Probably right ... if the OP is confident, then, easy enough to remove. Engineer code should stop tamper alerts when bell box opened.
     
  9. fred812

    fred812 Screwfix Select

    Apologies, completely overlooked this.
    This is a picture of the control panel in the house which seems to match a Google search for the Visonic Powermax Plus. Its been unplugged from the mains for a year or so now. I now need to move on with removal.
    My main concerns are whether the outside siren will go off when I try and remove it, and whether there's any mains present at the siren that need to be isolated ( that aren't isolated by the control panel being unplugged).
    Happy to do it myself but there's a few unknowns that I might not be able to handle if they go the wrong way.
     

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  10. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    There will likely be a battery in the panel or power supply box that may be good or flat, as soon as you remove the cover you will find out. Likewise the bell box will have its own battery and microswitch which will make the siren go off when you start to take it apart. Shouldn't be any mains at the bell box.

    When I rip out old unwanted alarms a good few go off, I wear ear defenders when doing it and prepare myself that it might go off. Then seek out the battery and cut the wires to shut it up, or as we did a few months ago with a particularly tenacious unit get the ground workers to back over it with the JCB.
     
  11. Rulland

    Rulland Screwfix Select

    Visonic equipment has been discontinued now, you will really struggle to find any replacement parts anyway.
     
  12. Spontaneocus

    Spontaneocus New Member

    The rules are pretty simple when it comes to telephone lines. Everything from the street up to your premises is BT's responsibility. Everything after the termination crimps (usually located behind the master socket) is the homeowner's responsibility (although BT will run new cables as part of the installation). So if it is after the cable coming in from the street, you can do whatever you want with it. The rules say "a reasonably competent person", so if it isn't connected, or you know it is dead, just remove it yourself.



     
  13. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    They wern't very happy when I cut through their fibre by accident with a spade bit :)
     
  14. Spontaneocus

    Spontaneocus New Member

    If you hit it with a spade, then I assume that was the garden (because if it wasn't, that makes for a really interesting story considering the incoming fibre is usually less than 30cm on the consumer side) which would put it on the cabinet - dp - domicile side which is their responsibility, but it having been your spade i'm guessing they got the new fibre run, and you got a nice invoice from your provider courtesy of Openreach.

    But now this makes questions go around in my head (having been a broadband engineer), if it was outside, how did you manage to hit it unless you were digging a fair depth, having said that you still shouldn't have halved it because you said you have fibre broadband. If you have Fibre to the Cabinet, that means the last run from cabinet to premises would be copper twisted pairs. It wont be unarmoured because that's pre-2000's. It should, therefore (if buried in the ground) be shielded armoured twisted pair, or shielded twisted pair run in the conduit at a depth of at least a foot (because that was the code since before FTTC). If it's full-fibre to the premises, then it would most definitely be in a conduit and buried at 1 foot. This means if it wasn't, and they did invoice you for a repair, and you weren't digging below a foot in depth, then the fault is there's, not yours. Ergo no charge.


     
  15. Spontaneocus

    Spontaneocus New Member

    I am now officially intrigued.


     
  16. FlyByNight

    FlyByNight Screwfix Select


    Difference between a "spade bit" and "spade" ... and your long post may well have been in vain.
     
  17. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    Spade bit, alas, not spade - BT had pinned the fibre around my customers doorframe (internal door) and then through along the skirting. As I was re-wiring and had the floorboards up the customer asked if I could re-route said fibre under the floor, no issue except the crimp on end wouldn't go back through the hole in the doorframe. I planned to drill a parallel hole in the frame of larger bore and cut between the two carefully with a pad saw to get the fibre into the bigger hole and pull the hole lot through.

    Alas an unseen knot caused the spade bit to migrate into BTs hole, chewing it to bits in the process. Fortunately the BT engineers were working just round the corner, they wern't over impressed with my efforts, but £20 each to the two chaps had it up and running, and routed under the floor.
     

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