Timeline for Is 100-year old armored (BX) cable a safety hazard and should it be replaced?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21 at 1:46 | comment | added | Fresh Codemonger | I had knob and tube in a 1920 house. Ele put GFCI outlets near the panel and tied each circuit into a GFCI breaker. This I guess gives you ground without a ground wire and is probably cheaper than getting all GFCI breakers maybe you could do the same with AFCI outlets and have it cheaper than AFCI breakers. | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 12:59 | comment | added | FreeMan | Since the panel has been upgraded, has it been properly grounded? Are the gounds properly attached to the BX and the boxes? Are the fixtures properly grounded to the boxes? If so, you're probably miles ahead of most older homes that still have wiring from the early 20th century. Simply updating ungrounded outlets to grounded ones where possible would probably add more protection than most old houses have. | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 11:36 | answer | added | user278411 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 5:50 | answer | added | Ed Beal | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 3:11 | comment | added | masedesign | @ThreePhaseEel anything can be done but it is especially challenging as the house is quite large (over 5,000 sq. ft.). I've traced all the runs and know which ones to use and which ones to not (for anything other than a lamp or a cell phone charger). But I will probably replace everything eventually. But in the meantime, I am wondering what can be done to alleviate a potential fire hazard. FWIW, the cloth/rubber jackets inside the electrical boxes does appear to be in good shape. | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 3:02 | comment | added | ThreePhaseEel | How hard would it be for you to run wires from the old boxes back to suitable grounding points? (i.e. your panel, your grounding electrode conductor system, or existing properly grounded circuits?) | |
| Jul 20, 2020 at 2:52 | history | asked | masedesign | CC BY-SA 4.0 |