Old wire

[DeeKay]

So my friend bought an old house(1907) in St. Louis and this is what the garage is wired up with. Anyone run in to this stuff before? Looks almost like what you would see in an old airplane or ship, especially with the tinned conductors and what looks like a shield. Looks like a silvery cloth outer jacket, then the tinned copper shield around what I'm guessing is some kind of rubber insulation on the main conductors.

 

[mike93lx]

He's replacing it, right?

 

[DeeKay]

He's replacing it, right?

I'm in the process of trying to convince him to.

 

[mike93lx]

I'm in the process of trying to convince him to.

I really hope that isn't a hard sell

 

[Shiftless]

Is that stuff single conductor? Are you talking knob and tube wiring?
Yeah, tear it all out and install modern grounded wire.

 

[four.cycle]

wire is cheap.

fires are expensive.

 

[Bert_]

It's SE cable. The wire is tinned copper.

I would say it's 40's-50's era wire. It's not especially bad but at this age the rubber insulation is usually very brittle.

 

[theoldwizard1]

It's SE cable. The wire is tinned copper.

I would say it's 40's-50's era wire. It's not especially bad but at this age the rubber insulation is usually very brittle.

Best to replace unless he is a cheap SOB !

You can splice on to it (the shield is the neutral, there is no ground). If the outer insulation is crumbling, wrap it with Scotch 88. NO SUBSTITUTES !!

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Our house burnt down when I was a kid. They figured it was an electrical problem. Earlier in the week a local handyman (not an electrician) wired up a clothes dryer connection. That Saturday was wash day and the dryer was doing double duty. Most of the material goods and possessions were lost in the fire. I end up wearing some of my buddies gotch soon after not a good time.
A rewire is in order, sooner not later.

 

[yatg]

wearing some of my buddies gotch

huh? or maybe we don't want to know,

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Just making a point. Fire is a done deal. Water and wind damage allows possibly some recovery of your assets.

 

[PFSard]

Just show him this thread. If that doesn't show him what tot do, I don't know what will.

 

[DeeKay]

It's SE cable. The wire is tinned copper.

I would say it's 40's-50's era wire. It's not especially bad but at this age the rubber insulation is usually very brittle.

Thanks Bert, I didn't notice there were two conductors in there.

 

[Bert_]

It's one of those things that if you're working on whatever the wire is connected to then that's probably the time to replace it. If it's there and you're not changing anything I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

 

[nadogail]

It looks like a project that is waiting to become an Emergency.

 

[Uncle murph]

So my friend bought an old house(1907) in St. Louis and this is what the garage is wired up with. Anyone run in to this stuff before? Looks almost like what you would see in an old airplane or ship, especially with the tinned conductors and what looks like a shield. Looks like a silvery cloth outer jacket, then the tinned copper shield around what I'm guessing is some kind of rubber insulation on the main conductors.

I had a similar mess in my shop,at best it was extremely annoying(lights going off and on,bad ungrounded recepts)at worst it was going to burn up my shop,tools and projects,do what it takes to make him understand.Fixing it right is money well spent.

 

[reader2580]

It looks like a project that is waiting to become an Emergency.

Hopefully not the kind of emergency that involves a bunch of firefighters.