I wrote a guide to make tech support over the holidays less painful
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@MattSpeller said:
@coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.
My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.
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@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.
My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.
Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.
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@MattSpeller said:
@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.
My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.
Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.
Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.
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@coliver said:
Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.
Holy crap you had this?!?!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring
I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!
The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!
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Yeah old houses and electricity can be scary:
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@MattSpeller said:
@coliver said:
Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.
Holy crap you had this?!?!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring
I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!
The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!
Yep... we had two runs that were still live. One was ceramic (which we were told could last basically forever) the other was plastic (which we were told should have never been installed and can cause all kinds of issues, including death by fire). We elected to replace both runs with modern cabling.
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@coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha
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@MattSpeller said:
@coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha
The best part... the first run we came across was when we were tearing apart our spare bedroom. I pulled on it with a claw hammer and had a delightful spasm on the other side of the room. We couldn't figure out which breaker it was tied to... turns out it wasn't tied into the circuit panel anywhere and was attached to the main somehow. Not a electrician but ours was swearing up and down the basement when he saw what was done. #oldhomehorrorstories.
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@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha
The best part... the first run we came across was when we were tearing apart our spare bedroom. I pulled on it with a claw hammer and had a delightful spasm on the other side of the room. We couldn't figure out which breaker it was tied to... turns out it wasn't tied into the circuit panel anywhere and was attached to the main somehow. Not a electrician but ours was swearing up and down the basement when he saw what was done.
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@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
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@MattSpeller said:
@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.
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@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.
I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.
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@art_of_shred said:
@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.
I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.
I do as well too, especially at my parents house. Their breakers are old and alot of times if I turn them off, I can't turn them back on and have to replace the breaker as well.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@art_of_shred said:
@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.
I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.
I do as well too, especially at my parents house. Their breakers are old and alot of times if I turn them off, I can't turn them back on and have to replace the breaker as well.
I'm just lazy. And less afraid than I probably should be. I tend to grab live wires to make sure they're live.
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There are old electricians and there are bold electricians...
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@Nic said:
There are old electricians and there are bold electricians...
Kinda like mushroom-pickers.
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@art_of_shred said:
@coliver said:
@MattSpeller said:
@coliver I hire sparky's because I know what 120v across the chest feels like.
This thread is giving me the hebejeebies, I'm exiting stage left.
Yep... I generally do too unless I can make sure the breaker is off at the panel. We had all the breakers to the upstairs off when doing this and thought we were good.... turns out that wasn't the case. Lesson learned.
I do 90% of my electrical work with the power on. How the heck am I supposed to see what I'm doing if the light's off?!? Besides, 110V just tickles a little. I accidentally channeled 208V one time. I'd like to avoid repeating that one.
My folks had a 220v stove... and the genius that installed it grounded it to the metal sink pipes. So if the stove (or oven) were on, and you were touching the stove and sink... yeah. Let's just say we have many electrifying experiences over the years.
Pops finally replaced the stove and fixed the ground, lol.
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@dafyre Was that a 3-prong 220 plug? Trying to understand why the ground would be live.
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@art_of_shred said:
@dafyre Was that a 3-prong 220 plug? Trying to understand why the ground would be live.
I honestly don't know. But that thing hurt if you touched it the wrong way... I had grown up and moved out before he finally replaced it, lol.
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@art_of_shred said:
@dafyre Was that a 3-prong 220 plug? Trying to understand why the ground would be live.
I have a 208v appliance (screw auger) that is ground over the neutral line. I did a ton of research when setting it up and apparently it is pretty common.
