more:

All you had to do was put new duct tape on the neutrals and it would have been just fine.

NOT!


[This message has been edited by ThinkGood (edited 06-02-2004).]

Ahhh, the smell of overheating fabric-covered Non-metallic cable in the evening...

Smells like overtime!

DougW wrote

Dern Skippy! Friggin duct tape couldn't have held out till after Memorial Day??
I ended up replacing about 10 outlets in this place! GFI to replace the duct tape thing here at the kitchen counter, yanked that damn hazard from under the sink, fed through the GFI to the rest of the circuit so I could use 3 prong outlets..(P&S needs to start putting more "no equiptment ground" stickers with these things!)

-Randy

You know what they say about duct tape?

Duct tape is like the force ( star wars )

It has a light side..
It has a dark side...

and it holds the universe together

http://www.3m.com/us/office/scotch/transducttape/

Transparent Duct Tape???
Now you can see the faulty connection arcing without having to undo everything! What'll they think of next? (afraid to ask! LOL)

-Randy

Don't laugh -- I've seen extension cords twisted and spliced together with regular Scotch tape.

Me too! And not only once. I've even seen twisted wires taped with Scotch tape and buried in plaster!

Anyway, the most ingenious wiring device I've ever seen is the homebrew US 6-way Y-extension cord. I'm sure all of the US members are familiar with those flimsy dollar-store 16AWG (or maybe even 18) zip cord 3-way extensions. Several people I know too 2 such beasts, cut the cords in half, spliced the end with the plug to the 2 ends with the trailing sockets and mounted everything on a wall with some scotch tape or in the another case nailed it to the kitchen wall paneling.

Pauluk wrote:


I've seen extension cords - 18-AWG zip cord home made ones held together with MASKING tape (the paper stuff).

The one I saw was used in a small iron-works shop (place that makes windows, doors and window-grates) as a general purpose thing to run the grinder machine and sometimes the spray-paint compressor.

The male and female add-on rubber cord-caps were also quite worn out and crumbly.

Ahhh Ranger! I know exactly what you're talking about! They're supposedly for things like the "behind the bed" outlet, You plug that thing in & take an end to each side of the bed for a lamp & alarm clock, etc... Except when I seem to find em in use, there's a 1500 watt space heater stuck in there also! People seem amazed when I pull the male end of the Y cord from the wall, the rubber around the prongs is mushroomed from heat!

I think I've seen everything short of actual bubblegum wrapped around a splice at one time or another... Saran wrap, scotch tape, blue masking tape, band-aids, rubber cement dipped ..... I went to a home once where the insulation was worn off the wires feeding power to the garage from the house.. The HO tore up an old tshirt & taped it over one of the wires so the wind wouldn't keep blowing em together & tripping his breaker!

-Randy

Hmm...
Instant fabric insulation, Randy!.

Why limit yourself to one roll/color at a time? http://thetapeworks.com/398.htm http://thetapeworks.com/progaff.htm
{Cheaper by the dozen…}

Mmm, I must say I like the Burgundy there Bjarney!,
If a roll of toilet tissue can have stars and fishes on it, why does duct tape not have this?.
I once saw a guy that tried to repair a pole that had split on his property with Duct tape.
Most impressive, a big silver pole, the 70's glitter bands would be proud!.

Somebody should have told this "office electrician" (the old tenant) that the wirenuts should be twisted before applying the tape. The wires were just stuck into them (but the tape held like a biting pitbull).

[QUOTE]Somebody should have told this "office electrician" (the old tenant) that the wirenuts should be twisted before applying the tape. The wires were just stuck into them (but the tape held like a biting pitbull). [/QOUTE]

In my opinion you should not have to use tape when applying wire nuts. If you have to use tape when you make taps/joints you might want to reconsider your technique and/or use of materials

I don't use tape either. The guy that did this was a software salesman. My previous post was just sarcasm. (Incidentally, this is where I found the problem of why there was no power in the suite.)...S

electure wrote:


Something tells me he wasn't designing the 2005 NEC cd-rom

-Randy

Could this stuff properly be called "Cable Duct Tape"?
http://thetapeworks.com/cablepath.htm

Ranger, did you see that Yext. cord in a Garriet Carter Catalog? I get those monthly. In the catalog there is usually a advertisement for a T-shirt. The shirt says, "I CAN FIX ANYTHING, WHERE'S THE DUCT TAPE?" One time the y-ext. cord and the shirt were right next to each other...
I'd love to see a guy wearing that shirt fix that Ext. cord!!

Bump.

A few drywallers I've seen had the cheapest residential grade extension cords ever made (Kopp discontiued that line at least two years ago). The cheap thermoplastic plug was close to no longer existant and they too had repaired it with paper masking tape.

I've seen two of those Y cords. One was at the home of a NYC friend of mine (taped to the extremely ugly dark 70ies kitchen paneling) feeding the cordless phone base station and some other lightweight stuff. The other one was at a teacher's office at Abraham Lincoln High School, Bklyn. Can't remember if it was feeding anything at the moment.

those zip cords seem to find all kinds of scary uses for DIY'ers.. I've seen old zip extension cords with the end lobbed off doing duty for everything from dishwashers, garbage disposals, even once on a pretty beefy air compressor (drawing something around 15A if i recall right) the cheap of the cheap extension cords here which mostly seem to originate from China, and tend to find homes via "dollar stores" nationwide are probably our version of what Ragnar's Kopp ext cord is...

-Randy

FPE breakers: either they are held in by the deadfront, or you have to pry them off with a crowbar.

When I bought my house 7 years ago, I found a dimmer that was connected to the 10 AWG aluminum wiring using only scotch tape. No wire nuts at all!

Yeah, and it had FPE equipment, too. Built in '71. Now the service and sub are upgraded, and most of the branch circuits have been completely rewired. Only two Al circuits left, and they will be gone within a few months.

Tape on wire nuts:
In the old days of porcelain wire nuts, or any without internal springs, this was a good idea. It was to keep the wire nut from falling off. This is probably a reason most ECs stuck to solder and friction tape for so long. I can't say I blame them.

I agree with git r dun. If you have to use tape, there is something wrong with your technique.