A plumber has melted the grey sleeve on a two core electrical cable in our kitchen whilst soldering a joint on an adjacent copper pipe. I can see exposed copper through a small hole the cable sleeve. This hole is approx 1cm in length.
The cable is at floor level, under the fridge freezer and as far as I can tell, runs to a socket. I've checked everything in the kitchen and it's all working.
Is this wire dangerous? If he tries to fix it with electrical tape will this suffice?
Thanks in advance.
Sounds like a fire waiting to happen. You'll need to cut out the damaged part and splice them together again.
If there isn't enough slack then you'll need a new short run of wire to bridge the gap.
Because you have physical access to the area The splices should be inside junction boxes.
Bill the work/materials to the plumber or deduct it from his bill if you haven't payed him yet and tell him to invest in a scorch pad to avoid stuff like this.
A picture would help, but the "runs into a socket" part sounds like this is an appliance cord and not house wiring. Which makes it a lot easier.
If there is ONE copper wire exposed, and the rest looks fine, then 5-6 wraps of electrical tape will be fine - that's basically what electrical tape is for.
If you see more than one copper wire exposed there are two choices: separate the wires and wrap each one separately, or just cut the cord at that point and put a new plug on the end. Short extension to the socket if the remaining cord isn't long enough.
If it's not a cord, and this is in fact solid house wiring, then the proper repair depends a lot on where you live (country should be a required tag on electrical questions).
There's one important additional consideration. This damage is in a kitchen. Is it to a wire at floor level, or a decent height above? Because a kitchen is quite likely to suffer a flood, say, if the washing machine or dishwasher outlet becomes blocked. At which point a cable at floor level will be sitting in hot soapy water, and one of several things will happen.
At best, the circuit is protected by its own RCBO and trips, and you only discover later when all the food in the freezer has thawed and been ruined.
Less good, the house's one and only RCD trips, and the house in plunged into darkness, and possibly somebody falls down the stairs or slips on the flooded kitchen floor as a result.
Worst, there is no RCD at all, and someone is electrocuted. Soapy water is a good conductor of electricity and kitchens are full of earthed metal things that you touch.
So although tape might be acceptable for wiring that's permanently a foot above floor level, it definitely is not acceptable down on the floor. Whatever you do, get somebody who knows electricity to check and fix it (not the electrically unqualified plumber who broke it in the first place).
I don't know your locale, but here in the UK it would be an open and shut case against the plumber in the small claims court, if you get it repaired by a qualified electrician who documents the damage on his quotation before repairing it. (Also, take photos). The main risk is that the plumber has gone bankrupt before you win your case. If he's not planning on going bankrupt or "doing a runner", he'll probably settle as soon as he sees the electrician's invoice, to avoid also being on the hook for court fees.
