what is it?

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rlcemente

Member
Good Morning,

I have a quick question if I may; I was recently at a friends house changing out some outlets for him and noticed a "blank plate" on the same wall as the oulet; it was located at the same height as the electrical outlet.

Out of curiosity, I removed the blank plate and found that inside the box were two vacuum lines (measuring about 1/8" O.D.in thickness); the vacuum lines were yellow in color with a green stripe running down the center.

While I presume these to be some sort of pneumatic control lines, I am, to be quite honest, unfamiliar as to what they were intended to control; there is one of these boxes (with said vacuum lines) in every room of the house; all at the same height as the oulets (about 15"); does anyone have any ideas as to what these are or what they might have been intended for?

The house was built in 1987 and the current owner has no clue as to these lines or their use.

If you know the answer, can you please let me know and if possible forward some info on the subject matter?

Thank you all so very much!

Roberto Clemente
 
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richwaskowitz

Senior Member
Location
Shelby Twp. MI, near Detroit
Re: what is it?

How certain are you that these 'vacuum lines' are not conductors whose insulation has been stretched a little, leaving the copper hidden back out of site?

An 1/8th inch OD section of vacuum tubing sounds awfully tiny to me. Not to mention the color coding beign that of a ground is way too much of a coincidence.
 
charlie b

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrical Engineer
Re: what is it?

If it were a more modern house, I might suspect this to be a data/Internet connection system. The townhouse I am renting has similar blank plates that cover outlet boxes that contain yellow wires.

If you are certain that you saw tubes, and not wires, I think it more likely that they supplied air at pressure, and not at vacuum. That is because a small tube bending hither and thither throughout the walls would probably kink, and the vacuum would cause the tubing to collapse. Air at a positive pressure could be conveyed through such tubing. But I have no idea what that air pressure would serve.
 
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benaround

Senior Member
Location
Arizona
Re: what is it?

Central vacuum system? Just a guess. The other ends of all these tubes,are they all in the same location? If yes,then any clues present there.Maybe someone needed Oxegen and had it piped to different rooms.

frank
 
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