Electrical Wiring At The Turn of the Century

[n2ize]

If you have ever wondered how electrical wiring was implemented in homes and businesses in the earliest days check out this page. In it's earliest days the wiring was not concealed in walls. It was run externally.

http://www.rexophone.com/?p=1175

[N7YA]

Lots of structural fires back then too.

[suddenseer]

That was an informative article. I always wondered what some of the 18th, and 19th century grand homes where like when electricity was introduced to the area. There are a few historical homes like that in my locality. The electrical wiring is almost amusing in one of them. Several rooms had the early examples as shown on your link. of course, it was probably reinstalled to bring authenticity to the original room. The old wiring in these rooms is not functional.

Of course, these hand new gadgets where not free to operate back then as well. Here is a link showing several examples of early electric meters.

http://c7707244.myzen.co.uk/blog/?p=628

[n2ize]

Lots of structural fires back then too.

Yeah. In part due to the fact that gas, kerosene, and candles were still used, even in buildings that had electric and, poor wiring and, more often than not, people bypassing fuses and early safety devices without fully understanding the consequences caused fires.. Electricity was new and mysterious and many people who had it did not fully understand it's nature and potential danger. In days gone by I remember some people used to put rubber plugs in electrical outlets. Not for child safety but because they assumed that like gas, if the connection is not plugged the electric will leak into the surrounding air and they will be billed for it.

I would love to own a house that was and is still wired in the old style. However, while I would keep the old wires intact for nostalgia I would install a modern system behind the walls that conforms to modern day codes and which can ahndle modern day loads. The old system would be simply for nostalgia and would have no electricity running through it.

[NQ6U]

I've seen a lot of knob-and-tube wiring in old houses, although I don't see it as much as I used to. Most of the houses wired that way have burned down from electrical fires by now.

[n2ize]

That was an informative article. I always wondered what some of the 18th, and 19th century grand homes where like when electricity was introduced to the area. There are a few historical homes like that in my locality. The electrical wiring is almost amusing in one of them. Several rooms had the early examples as shown on your link. of course, it was probably reinstalled to bring authenticity to the original room. The old wiring in these rooms is not functional.

Of course, these hand new gadgets where not free to operate back then as well. Here is a link showing several examples of early electric meters.

http://c7707244.myzen.co.uk/blog/?p=628

Great link !!! One of my hobbies is learning about old electrical wiring and distribution, There were some pretty smart people back in the old days. I can't help but admire the cleverness in their inventions in a time when digital electronics, programming, etc. was yet unborn. So I gather that UK current is on average 50 cycles as opposed to USA current at average = 60 cycles.

My Grandpa's house in the Bronx was very old and was not wired for electric when it was built. People used candles and oil lamps then and his section of the South Bronx was mostly farmland when his house was built. The apartment dwellings that grew up and eventually shadowed his home were a part of the growth of NYC long after his house was built. The building outside and next to his home was originally a stable for horses. He used it as his workshop. I don;t think his house was ever wired for gas lighting because I never saw any old gas fixtures in the place and my Mom tells me that when she was a little girl they were using a wood burning stove in the kitchen. So, gas and electric probably came to the "West Farms" section of the Bronx in later years. In later years the house was wired for electric and set up for coal fired steam heat. I assume they used old "knon and tube" type wiring because all the outlets in the house were 2 prong with no ground connection.

[n2ize]

I've seen a lot of knob-and-tube wiring in old houses, although I don't see it as much as I used to. Most of the houses wired that way have burned down from electrical fires by now.

There is still a lot of knob and tube wiring still in use out there. One of my electrician friends sees it quite often. Knob and tube is pretty safe. But in many cases it has deteriorated and/or has been unsafely modified over the decades..That spells trouble, Most insurers won't insure a house if the knob & tube has been modified. However it is grandfathered in if it remains untouched.

[KC9SQR]

I've seen a lot of knob-and-tube wiring in old houses, although I don't see it as much as I used to. Most of the houses wired that way have burned down from electrical fires by now.

I still see it quite often around here. I do property maintenance for a few landlords here, and have gotten into arguments over what the landlord wanted me to do vs what I was willing to do with one of them... The lives of his tenants may not mean much to him as he gets an insurance check every time one of his houses catches fire, but I'm not going to be responsible for someone losing everything they own or their lives... I quit working for that landlord because of that.. He's a "registered electrician" but doesn't know squat.. I am not okay with taking some romex and wirenutting it to that crap to branch off of it instead of running a whole new circuit from the mains, but he is.. And his places keep catching fire, from electrical problems, imagine that...

I have told him that is insurance fraud when you know about an existing electrical problem and then file a claim because the known problem actually started a fire, he didn't believe me and now his insurance company is looking into his practices...

I personally won't have anything to do with knob and tube wiring, any time an electrical problem comes up and I see that crap, I walk away from the job and tell him to either do it themselves or hire a professional electrician... I don't want that crap to start a fire and me get blamed for it so I just don't touch the stuff :)

[n2ize]

I still see it quite often around here. I do property maintenance for a few landlords here, and have gotten into arguments over what the landlord wanted me to do vs what I was willing to do with one of them... The lives of his tenants may not mean much to him as he gets an insurance check every time one of his houses catches fire, but I'm not going to be responsible for someone losing everything they own or their lives... I quit working for that landlord because of that.. He's a "registered electrician" but doesn't know squat.. I am not okay with taking some romex and wirenutting it to that crap to branch off of it instead of running a whole new circuit from the mains, but he is.. And his places keep catching fire, from electrical problems, imagine that...

I have told him that is insurance fraud when you know about an existing electrical problem and then file a claim because the known problem actually started a fire, he didn't believe me and now his insurance company is looking into his practices...

I personally won't have anything to do with knob and tube wiring, any time an electrical problem comes up and I see that crap, I walk away from the job and tell him to either do it themselves or hire a professional electrician... I don't want that crap to start a fire and me get blamed for it so I just don't touch the stuff :)

In most cases I usually see a piece of romex connected to the old K&T wiring at a junction when it was needed to add a branch to a circuit. Often it's been clumsily spliced on. I even came across a splice that was loose.. I also was told that in some areas it is illegal to modify or add on to old K&T. If the K&T is in its original form and hasn't been touched it can stay and can still be relatively safe (I wonder) but if its been modified then it has to be pulled and replaced. Some insurers won't insure a home with K&T. In any event the best / safest way to add a circuit to a place wired with K&T is to run some Romex or BX cable right from the fuse or breaker box. This way you don't touch the K&T. I have seen a few places that are "hybrids" a mix of old K&T and BX or Romex. Friend of min had a place like that. The new part of the house that was rebuilt was all modern Romex. But the old section of the place was still running on K&T.

This place is wired with metal BX cable. I like it and if I add on any circuits or modify anything I generally prefer to use BX cable. The only exception was a very short run of Romex cable that I installed to set up an outlet in the basement so I could power up my datacenter which is located down there.

The old K&T wiring is kind of quaint in a way, a throwback to days gone by when most homes used electricity for little more than lighting a few lamps or maybe running a couple of fans in the summer or an old tube AM radio. I like it's old appearance but I would be kind of uneasy about depending on it for my modern day electrical needs (i.e. appliances, heaters, refrigerators, air cond's, etc.)

[NQ6U]

When in Romex, do as the Romexicans do.