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Posted by Existential Angst on October 26, 2009, 11:38 am
Awl --
No real problem here, just some inneresting stuff, a general Q.
Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
is.
And today, in 2009, the cloth is STILL supple!!
The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
Imho, soldering adds a big safety factor to the splicing process, and I'm
surprised they dispensed with the requirement -- esp. in a union trade,
where the slower the better.
Most peculiar, tho, is the "circuitry strategy", which seems to be a kind of
statistical shotgun approach, where one room is not wired on one or two or
three breakers, but rather randomly throughout the house. So if a breaker
trips, 4 different locations could be affected, all over the house. Really
a pita, but it is what it is. Fortunately, there are many many circuits --
over 20.
Curious if other people in older houses have this wiring strategy. I don't
think it's easily solvable.
The electrical wisdom seems to be, leave the old as is, just add new as you
need it -- appliances, A/C, etc.
The Q is, to go through the trouble to run the new in the walls (a real
pita), or use wire-mold?
--
EA
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Posted by Bill on October 26, 2009, 12:39 pm
I like to wire lighting circuits on separate breakers from outlets. Then if
an outlet breaker trips, you still have lights to see!
And I like to wire each room's outlets on its own breaker. Much easier for
troubleshooting and labeling of the breakers.
As to rewiring, if you are going to live there the rest of your life, I
would run the wiring in the walls. Looks much nicer. Electricians know how
to do this. You can always just do one room at a time.
"Existential Angst" wrote in message
> Awl --
> No real problem here, just some inneresting stuff, a general Q.
> Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
> quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
> ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
> is.
> And today, in 2009, the cloth is STILL supple!!
> The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
> each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
> Imho, soldering adds a big safety factor to the splicing process, and I'm
> surprised they dispensed with the requirement -- esp. in a union trade,
> where the slower the better.
> Most peculiar, tho, is the "circuitry strategy", which seems to be a kind
> of statistical shotgun approach, where one room is not wired on one or two
> or three breakers, but rather randomly throughout the house. So if a
> breaker trips, 4 different locations could be affected, all over the
> house. Really a pita, but it is what it is. Fortunately, there are many
> many circuits -- over 20.
> Curious if other people in older houses have this wiring strategy. I
> don't think it's easily solvable.
> The electrical wisdom seems to be, leave the old as is, just add new as
> you need it -- appliances, A/C, etc.
> The Q is, to go through the trouble to run the new in the walls (a real
> pita), or use wire-mold?
> --
> EA
>
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Posted by on October 26, 2009, 2:52 pm
On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:38:56 -0400, "Existential Angst"
>Awl --
>Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
>quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
>ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
>is.
>The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
>each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
You answered your own question. They tinned the copper wire because it
usually was going to be soldered.
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Posted by Existential Angst on October 26, 2009, 3:02 pm
> On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:38:56 -0400, "Existential Angst"
>>Awl --
>>Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
>>quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
>>ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
>>is.
>>The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
>>each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
> You answered your own question. They tinned the copper wire because it
> usually was going to be soldered.
So you mean the whole spool/reel of wire was tinned before the insulation
was added, in anticipation of soldering?
To avoid the local application of flux?
--
EA
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Posted by on October 26, 2009, 4:29 pm
On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:02:23 -0400, "Existential Angst"
>> On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:38:56 -0400, "Existential Angst"
>>>Awl --
>>>Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
>>>quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
>>>ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
>>>is.
>>>The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
>>>each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
>> You answered your own question. They tinned the copper wire because it
>> usually was going to be soldered.
>So you mean the whole spool/reel of wire was tinned before the insulation
>was added, in anticipation of soldering?
>To avoid the local application of flux?
Yep, that is quite common even up to the early Romex. A lot of
neophyte home inspectors report it as cloth covered aluminum wire. We
all get a chuckle out of that.
BTW they usually dipped those connections in a pot of molten solder.
The solder itself came in bars, not rolled up as wire.
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> No real problem here, just some inneresting stuff, a general Q.
> Of course, the wiring is old, cloth covered, but in BX, and super-high
> quality. The wire seems to be nickel or silver coated/tinned -- not just
> ends, but the whole wire. Curious as to what the purpose of that coating
> is.
> And today, in 2009, the cloth is STILL supple!!
> The wire appears to be only 14 ga, but still more than ample for 15 A, AND
> each splice is wire nutted AND soldered!!
> Imho, soldering adds a big safety factor to the splicing process, and I'm
> surprised they dispensed with the requirement -- esp. in a union trade,
> where the slower the better.
> Most peculiar, tho, is the "circuitry strategy", which seems to be a kind
> of statistical shotgun approach, where one room is not wired on one or two
> or three breakers, but rather randomly throughout the house. So if a
> breaker trips, 4 different locations could be affected, all over the
> house. Really a pita, but it is what it is. Fortunately, there are many
> many circuits -- over 20.
> Curious if other people in older houses have this wiring strategy. I
> don't think it's easily solvable.
> The electrical wisdom seems to be, leave the old as is, just add new as
> you need it -- appliances, A/C, etc.
> The Q is, to go through the trouble to run the new in the walls (a real
> pita), or use wire-mold?
> --
> EA
>