Old garage circuit - can this be salvaged?

[stsmytherie]

Guys, I could use some advice on this very old wiring out to my detached garage. It's a single circuit that starts at a 15A breaker in my main house panel.

I know this can't possibly be correctly done, and it doesn't look even a little safe. The question is:

Can the existing wiring out to the garage be salvaged into a safe, working circuit, or do I need to decommission this, trench, and run a new circuit out there.

"Panel" in the garage. Bare ground wire is connected to a ground rod.



Closeup of the wiring here.



This is a mid-circuit splice in in house.



This connects to our main panel in the house.



The whole thing is pretty sketchy and I'm not sure how it got past inspection when we purchased (almost 10 years ago). I'd have to go back and look. Maybe it was called out but of lower priority than some other items that influenced our negotiations and closing. Water under the bridge at this point and I'm not interested in assigning blame. Just formulating a plan to fix.

 

[The Cobbler]

I think you know the answer already.

 

[cort]

Your garage's wiring certainly is not code compliant by modern standards, but someone has tried to maximize the safety using a GFI as the first device in the garage chain. I can't quite make it out, but it looks like a third wire was there at one point--220V to the garage in the past?



Insulation on old wire is often very brittle such that it breaks off when manipulated. It can be unpleasant to work with to say the least. If your wire’s insulation is brittle, I would not consider rehabbing the circuit.



From some of the other pictures, it appears that your garage may have significant current demands. If you have the means, pulling a new feed from the main panel to the garage and installing a new sub-panel in the garage would be ideal.

 

[stsmytherie]

Your garage's wiring certainly is not code compliant by modern standards, but someone has tried to maximize the safety using a GFI as the first device in the garage chain. I can't quite make it out, but it looks like a third wire was there at one point--220V to the garage in the past?

I certainly looks like it could have been wired 220v at one time, but there's only evidence of one circuit: four bulbs and a socket.

The house is about 100 years old. Town lore says that a clothespin manufacturing business was run out of the house at some point. There is second exterior meter that runs to a dedicated 220v panel in the main house, but no extant evidence this had a connection to the garage wiring (though I will take another look). None of it is hooked up to the utility now.

From some of the other pictures, it appears that your garage may have significant current demands. If you have the means, pulling a new feed from the panel to the garage and installing a new panel in the garage would be ideal.

Garage does not have significant current demands at the moment. Some LED lighting, garage door openers, and the two plugs. I am careful about not using multiple devices at the same time or high-draw devices on these circuits.

At the moment I run an extension cord to a more appropriate circuit on the main house when I need to run something like a compressor or welder.

 

[driftpin]

I am not an electrician.

Chalk it up to, "it worked to now, time for a to-code upgrade."

Take it from there, and your 'starting-point' is the main branch circuit panel, or the main disconnect outside, at the meter can area.

Remove the old above-grade stuff you can access, abandon in-place the below-grade stuff you can't easily access.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

The EGC going to the ground rod is enough evidence to show that whoever wired that didnt know what they were doing.

Who knows what else they did.

It looks like a total hack job.

Scrap it all and start over.

You will need 4-wires and 2 ground rods.

 

[stsmytherie]

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like we're agreed this wiring is not salvageable. We'll have to scrap this and do it properly when time and $ allow.

The upside will be proper safe power in the garage and, while I'm at it, 220.

We will need to make some space in the main panel which is currently full.

 

[Bretny]

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like we're agreed this wiring is not salvageable. We'll have to scrap this and do it properly when time and $ allow.

The upside will be proper safe power in the garage and, while I'm at it, 220.

We will need to make some space in the main panel which is currently full.

Dont forget your going to gain one space when you take out the 15a feeding that circuit.

 

[stsmytherie]

Dont forget your going to gain one space when you take out the 15a feeding that circuit.

I had actually forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder.

My homework for the evening is reading through old GJ threads to start making lists and figuring out a budget. Lists are important. I was at a local shop today asking about renting a cherry picker for another project and forgot to also ask about a trencher as well. But one project at a time perhaps.