megloff11x
Senior Member
Car mechanics are often known to drive the most dilapidated duct taped & bailing wired jalopies on the road. Is the same true of Electricians and their homes? My Father was a journeyman (industrial). Our house, bought in 1949, came with a 60A service. After doubling its square footage for garages and kids, we never upgraded this.
We had two bedrooms and a kitchen wires on one 12/2, not grounded, and fused with a 30A AGC automotive type fuse, in an in-line fuse holder, residing in an open junction box and held to the wires with a modest wwrap job, no wire nut, covered in electrical tape. When an outlet used for a bedroom window air conditioner gave up the ghost, new 12/2 was similarly spliced into an existing wire run, run out the basement window, up through that bedroom window in a corner through a hole in the side panel of the window air conditioner, and cobbled on to an extension cord outlet. When window AC units were added to other rooms, the house would suffer brownouts. I think birds burned their feet on the wire coming in to the house.
After he passed away, my mother finally called in an electrician to fix the mess, but while he upgraded the service to 150A, installed central air, and fixed the most egregious things, much of the residual 50yr old wiring was left in place.
I rent a house where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are on one 15A breaker. You can't run the TV, computer, coffee maker, waffle maker, toaster, and microwave at the same time. Pick two and schedule your tasks...
When we get new people move in and buy new homes where I live now, the first or second thing they have to do is gut the electrical wiring - often stolen mine wire from back in the day. I'm told the electrical inspector in town for many years was a fired bank teller with no useful education in anything, let alone electrical stuff - but he had the right last name as did his wife so the old boy network found him something.
Anyway, do you guys keep your abodes up to snuff or do you "know what you can get away with" and postpone repairs and upgrades because you can always take care of it any time?
Matt
We had two bedrooms and a kitchen wires on one 12/2, not grounded, and fused with a 30A AGC automotive type fuse, in an in-line fuse holder, residing in an open junction box and held to the wires with a modest wwrap job, no wire nut, covered in electrical tape. When an outlet used for a bedroom window air conditioner gave up the ghost, new 12/2 was similarly spliced into an existing wire run, run out the basement window, up through that bedroom window in a corner through a hole in the side panel of the window air conditioner, and cobbled on to an extension cord outlet. When window AC units were added to other rooms, the house would suffer brownouts. I think birds burned their feet on the wire coming in to the house.
After he passed away, my mother finally called in an electrician to fix the mess, but while he upgraded the service to 150A, installed central air, and fixed the most egregious things, much of the residual 50yr old wiring was left in place.
I rent a house where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are on one 15A breaker. You can't run the TV, computer, coffee maker, waffle maker, toaster, and microwave at the same time. Pick two and schedule your tasks...
When we get new people move in and buy new homes where I live now, the first or second thing they have to do is gut the electrical wiring - often stolen mine wire from back in the day. I'm told the electrical inspector in town for many years was a fired bank teller with no useful education in anything, let alone electrical stuff - but he had the right last name as did his wife so the old boy network found him something.
Anyway, do you guys keep your abodes up to snuff or do you "know what you can get away with" and postpone repairs and upgrades because you can always take care of it any time?
Matt
