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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 53
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Had a nightmare today man you gotta love the stuff what in the $%#^&&^ where they thinking????
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445 Likes: 3
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You should not let your inexperience, or lack of training, lead you to hasty sentiments.
K&T has worked wonderfully for over half a century in many places- including my home! Many thing that are considered "standard" today were new in the day of the Vietman war. These "new" things included MC, wire nuts, ground wires, and household circuit breakers.
You're sure to see, as you gain in experience, a lot of other things about building construction that no one would dream of doing today. Styles change, technology advances.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 101
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My favorite pain in the butt has been lead covered direct burial cable. As for Knob and Tube, I always felt it was a very safe style of wiring except for the old front expossed knife switches.
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
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I have several horror stories that deal with knob & tube wiring. It sucked trying figure what was going on in the beginning. Come to think of it, it still a pain in the neck to work with but only because a guy my age is used to NM, AC, or MC cables. What's fascinating are those small hand-cranked holes the old timers used to make to pull the old bx through building members.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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I can't speak for K&T as you won't find it over here, but in my experience many of the problems with older methods of wiring come not from the original installation but from the way it has baeen hacked about for additions in more recent years by people unfamiliar with the techniques involved. What's fascinating are those small hand-cranked holes the old timers used to make to pull the old bx through building members. As in a hole bored with a hand brace and auger bit?
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
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Remember - back in the day of K&T they used to switc hthe neutrals! Found that out the hard way
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,931 Likes: 34
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As in a hole bored with a hand brace and auger bit? that sounds terrible but if you had a sharp bit it really went pretty fast
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 55
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At least the auger and bit are Y2K compliant and you don't ever have to charge the batteries.
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 745
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Over the years I have seen many installations of Knob and Tube wiring. When it first starts out, it isn't a bad system - except for the occasional switched neutral and the lack of grounding. It's what happens to it later in its life that really bites (sometimes literally) - bad add-ons and circuit splits with equally bad splices, physical damage from being stepped on, wiring covered up with insulation, overheating from overfusing, etc. When you really get down to it, a 1930's technology doesn't support a 2000's lifestyle very well. Those guys that used to install that stuff were really good with the soldering irons, though... Mike (mamills) [This message has been edited by mamills (edited 12-14-2005).]
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
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Yes, those small holes that the old timers made to pull bx (AC). They are so small that I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to pull wire through them. Can anyone tell me the logic behind making the holes so small? All I can say is thank God for hole hogs and cordless drills w/ speed bits.
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Posts: 1,158
Joined: May 2003
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