Cable, Pipe & Stud Detectors

Cable, Pipe and Stud Detectors Information

If you're drilling holes, driving screws or hammering nails into walls, you need to have a good idea of what's behind them first. Locating wooden studs will give you a nice, solid surface for fastening to, and avoiding gas and water pipes or electrical cables will help to prevent nasty accidents that can be expensive to repair, not to mention downright dangerous. While a certain amount of educated guesswork can help to pinpoint the likely locations of these hidden features, it's hard to know for certain when you can't see what's on the other side of the wall. In this respect Cable, Pipe and Stud Detectors are designed to give you a bit more visibility of what's lying beneath the surface. Their capabilities vary but the most versatile models can pick up ferrous and non ferrous metals, wood and live electricity. When checking the specifications of a Cable, Pipe or Stud Detector, it should show you what types of material it can detect, and the maximum depth it will work up to.

Cable, Pipe and Stud Detector Safety

Make sure you have read the manual and are familiar with the limitations of any Cable, Pipe or Stud Detector before using it - for instance, some types of wall material can affect the signal and lead to a false reading. Also please be aware that due to the many variables involved none of these detectors are completely accurate all the time, and it is best to think of them as giving a second opinion rather than a definitive answer. Running the detector over known pipe or cable routes in the same room should help to ascertain whether it is providing an accurate reading before you get to work.