New fixtures,c1939 wiring.

[electricmanscott]

Thanks for all the suggestions.Here in Boston we have a long time electrical instructor that is known to most electricians,he had a saying concerning the electrical code-"it's a real world out there"

Nope, it is not. The code is the code.

 

[big john]

It's a real world out there.

Every time I hear someone up here say that, it's when they're doing something wrong because they're too lazy to do it right.

I'll second the method of stripping back the BX to get undamaged conductors. McMaster Carr has 105 degree, 600V heat-shrink tubing; I put that over the undamaged conductors or any ones I can't strip back. Get it in black and white and it makes things nice and pretty. Make sure you have room in the box because with the thick cambric insulation, plus the heat shrink, things get bulky in a hurry.

-John

 

[electricmanscott]

Every time I hear someone up here say that, it's when they're doing something wrong because they're too lazy to do it right.

I'll second the method of stripping back the BX to get undamaged conductors. McMaster Carr has 105 degree, 600V heat-shrink tubing; I put that over the undamaged conductors or any ones I can't strip back. Get it in black and white and it makes things nice and pretty. Make sure you have room in the box because with the thick cambric insulation, plus the heat shrink, things get bulky in a hurry.

-John

And exactly how is this method "right" ?:-?

 

[peter d]

Nope, it is not. The code is the code.

I agree, it's pretty unrealistic to do a complete rewire to put up a few lights.

 

[mdshunk]

I agree, it's pretty unrealistic to do a complete rewire to put up a few lights.

Nobody's suggesting you do that, but let me share a story from this past May....

An apartment building I formerly did work in was purchased by a new owner. The new owner decided to really fix the place up, one unit at a time. I was called in to hang new fixtures in one of the newly renovated units on the top floor, on a recommendation by the old owner. I already knew this place was wired with old-old BX; no bond strip, cloth-covered conductors.

I took down every fixture first, and as expected, all the conductor insulation was crispy and wanted to fall off. I took apart all the connections in all the light boxes and loosened the clamps. I got into the attic (no easy task in this place) and pulled all the BX out of the all the boxes. Stripped the armor back to good conductor, and set a 4 square. Ran MC from that 4-square to the existing light boxes.

Now, what to do about grounding? There's a provision in the code someplace (citation needed) that permits a single ground wire to be run in cases like this. Since this unit had it's own tenant panel, I fished a solid #10 THHN down to the panel, inside the wall, up into the attic. I used the Arrow T-25 round crown stapler to attach the THHN in the attic as it was run to each of my 4-squares to take care of the bonding.

A lot of work? Sure was, but certainly not a complete rewire. If this had been someone's house, I might have done differently. Since this was quite a visible building, and a rental that will have lots of tenants over the years, I decided to do it the best way I knew how, short of rewiring.

 

[big john]

And exactly how is this method "right" ?:-?

You're taking the existing wiring and insuring that it has an effective insulation through 105 degrees.

Where's your complaint?

-John