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West Chazy, New York | Our house was wired probably in the early fifties. I've replaced a good bit of it, but still have some left. This week I replaced some outlets and rewired some lights. The upstairs was so bad that I installed a subpanel a few years ago and replaced everything. I am amazed that the house has survived. So far my discoveries include:
A hot wire inside a wall not connected to anything.
Nine devices in five rooms on one circuit. Polarity switched back and forth between devices.
A flourescent with the ground and neutral wrapped together to create stray voltage to excite the light.
A lamp cord held onto a water pipe with a clothespin as a ground.
A light with the switch in the neutral line.
Numerous three prong outlets with no ground wire present.
Perhaps the biggest source of confusion is the amount of abandoned wire still in place. Several changes were made in the past, and often the old wire was left to make it more confusing.
I've wired new buildings and done work on old buildings and I will take an installation in a new one any day. It really is a wonder there aren't more fires in old houses. I'm sure that there are lots more like ours.
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Old house wiring
