house wiring sucks

[John Holotko]

At a small cabin that I am building out in  the off-grid sticks,  have been using a Coleman Cable product--Corra Clad.  It has an extruded continuous aluminum tube around the copper conductors,  and then it is corrugated.  The aluminum outside is the safety ground,  and being continuous (ie not wound around the conductors),  it is a true and good RF shield.  The goal is to keep the RF generated by the Soalr power system as far away as possible from the RF coming into the RX front end.

This cable looks a bit like BX,  but with BX,  whe metal sheath is wound around the conductors,  and therefore does not make a good RF shield.

The same stuff, or something that looks identical, is used for gas  lines.  It is flexible, but being a continuous run, has a lower risk of leaks.  In many cities, copper pipe is off limits for gas lines, but the corrugated stuff is ok.  The preferred product is old fashioned rigid steel pipe with threaded joints.

Anyone  know why steel pipe is any safer than heavy duty copper tubing?  I suppose there is a danger of a leak if someone tries to bend the copper around too small a radius, but otherwise it would seem to me less likely to have a leak than steel threaded pipe.

My house was wired in the 30's with the old fashioned romex with rubber insulation, wrapped with what looks like ordinary paper like what cardboard is made of, and the whole thing is covered with tar-impregnated cloth.  I suppose at the time they thought it was an improvement over the original knob-and-tube wiring technique, but over the years the stuff dries out, and now I have to be extremely careful when changing out a switch or outlet recepticle, not to bend the  stuff too much, or the insulation falls off.  It seems safe enough as long as it's left alone.  Knob-and-tube construction, if done correctly, is hard to beat safety wise.  Of course modern romex with vinyl plastic insulation, doesn't seem to deteriorate with age.

Wow, that brings  back some memories. I remember my grandfathers house has the old knob and tube wiring. I remember seeing it where it was exposed in the basement and attic and then dissapearing into the walls. It had a really quaint old fashioned look to it that was really cool.  The house pre-dated electricity and was originally lit by candles and oil lamps. The wiring probaly dated back to the late 1900's or so, The house was located in a part  of New York City  known as the South Bronx.

[W1RKW]

Bob,
I hope you pulled all at the same time. I only had to go from the meter socket to the breaker panel with 0000 copper and made the mistake of pulling one at a time. What an idiot I was. I felt like mary poppins when I dropped the can of no ox down the conduit heading to the street.  Good thing the rope was in the pipe and I was able to pop it out with a big knot. I almost had to dig it up and cut it. That day I felt very stupid....

Well after 5 days of work the truck is loaded and I'm headed South this afternoon from work,  I will be happy to do a couple days of sucky electrical after working.

Frank,
Oh, I sent them all at the same time. No doubt about that. The stupid part was I made the mistake of not pulling them but pushing them through a conduit at first. Don't know what I was thinking. I only took me 10 or so tries to figure it out.  Live and learn I guess.  Then to make matters worse I chose a conduit that should have been sized one size up from the size I chose. Instead I chose the smallest in order to save a few bucks.

[WB2CAU]

I'll be a real man and use #12 for everything.

In 1979, when this house was being constructed, I had requested from the builder that ALL wiring be done with 12 AWG.  I had offered to pay any increased cost. The builder said he would advise his electrician.  (Note: this was requested AFTER the construction contract had been signed)

When the electrician had done his part, I returned to inspect.  12 AWG wiring was only done to the few mandatory 20 amp circuits.  When I asked the builder why everything hadn't been wired with 12 AWG as I had requested, he informed me that it would be in violation to the code and every 15 amp circuit HAD to be wired with 14 AWG.  Knowing that this was a lot of crap, I argued that 14 AWG was a minimum and 12 AWG was permissible because it had a greater current capacity.  The builder asked me, "are you a licensed electrician?" I replied "no". He replied, "I trust the word of my electrician over YOU".  What could I say at that point? 

So there you go, folks... it appears that bullshit rules!

Eric - WB2CAU

[Art]

"So there you go, folks... it appears that bullshit rules! "

Yep . . . unless it appears in a contract or change order, signed by all parties, and a portion of the payment is based on passing your final inspection . . . then, you have their critical components ($) in hand and they will much more likely to complete the job to spec.

[WA1GFZ]

Ah to do your own work and be anal about it.
Big Al K1JCL suggested #10 in the kitchen. I'm considering ripping out the #12
and use the home runs for the basement.

Another long weekend but built a nice dolly to sit on with a padded seat.
3 way switches inhale wire...

[KB2WIG]

consider 14/2 .. 3ways they are for  lamp ckts??  save a few bucks.. generally,  it will support 12 100W lamps per ckt...  klc

[w1guh]

The comments about knob and tube wriing took me back.  We moved into a house in '59.  It was built in about the 20's, and it had knob and tube wiring in the basement.  I was twelve, and was fascinated with it..looked old fashioned, for sure..but it also looked like wiring on the poles.  (Over the years it got replaced.)

But it also reminds me of something related but off-topic.  But I'll throw it out anyway.

Anyone remember living a house with a coal furnace?  I know the house I was born in had a coal furnace ( I remember it had a de-commissioned coal bin)  I have no recollection of the conversion, but I do have very dim memorys of the damper control with chains running to the basement.  I also remember being in a friends house about first grade where the conversion hadn't been made.  When I saw the damper control I knew I'd seen it before.  If it wasn't for that, I may never have recalled living in a house with a coal furnace.

Anyone aware enough of those times (late 40's) that can recall shovelling coal...lighting the furnace in the fall...gas conversion?

The house we move into in '59 (The house I got my license in) had a gas conversion coal furnace.

Sorry about off topic.

Paul

[Bill, KD0HG]

When I was a punk, I was fascinated with the HV ignition transformer setup on the oil burner heat in my folks home in Illinois. "Wow, 10,000 volts!!...Cool!"

They converted to gas which wasn't nearly as impressive. But every time I fill up one of the diesels today, that smell of #2 fuel oil takes me back.