ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Found this at an estimate

Theres a few houses in my town that have 4 wire delta service. Houses with central air that date back to the 60's. Must have been an expensive premium for new houses back then.

Just imagine if I owned such a house: I could connect the dryer between the "wild" leg of the delta and one of the 120V lines. But being careful to connect the dryer so its 120V motor sees 120V and not 208V! Probably not code though.

[This message has been edited by wa2ise (edited 12-20-2004).]

Aah!
Cheman6, welcome. (It didn't say Cheman6 anywhere in your email. Now I know)

OK, I'll play "devils advocate".

Other than the lack of some staples, why should this be ripped out? There appear to be properly sized fuses for the wiring. The sloppiest is what appears to be the newer work (dead center).

What's Unsafe about it?

The panel on the upper left is also 3Ø 4W.

This would be a fairly easy job to change this over to breakers. Looks like about 50 circuits. Lots of working space and the wires are plenty long

A Continent apart, different fittings, yet so familiar.....

Click here

Looks like about 6 car payments are about to be covered.

At one time this was how it was done. (minus the messiness of the cabling)







Bjarney's got the only specific claim to anything that may be unsafe (looks like transite), yet everyone seems avid to rip the whole thing out.
How Come?




If the original work was done by a DIYer, then he was very well equipped...These are "indenter" type EMT fittings, and require a special crimping tool to install. (I've never had one)

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 12-23-2004).]

Welcome cheman6.
I see this stuff too often in the Omaha Ne area. As origionally installed it was probably good and still would be if it had been left alone or serviced by some one who knew what they were doing.
However 99% of this stuff has had many hacks trying to play electrician for far too long. Much of that wiring probably has deteriated to the point of touch it and watch the insulation fall away.
Best to replace the mess and be done with it. Trying to salvage this would cost more than replacing it and still would have problems.

[This message has been edited by nesparky (edited 12-23-2004).]

That was the plan just thanks for the welcome nesparky

"Where to start?"
Where's my dynamite?

Ian A.

good god I've never seen so many fuses!