Dzimm

I just read into wiring history a bit. So I've got a very late version of sheathed cable, just before the introduction of NM. It does say that the first generation of sheathed cable from the 1930s had a life expectancy of 25 years. The different versions of sheathed cable don't look very different so I'd imagine your spot on Eagle with mine being about that 25yr lifespan. So yeah it may be time to upgrade...

It was actually built in 67 so way after knob and tube and just before the ground wire was required.

Why would they ever use a wire with such a short life expectancy? You guys are lucky you have the option to stay away from this mess. I'm seriously debating just running all new wiring.

None are armoured, it's all the fabric coated Romex style

These were actually in 2 different switch boxes. One has a mystery ground wire that we can't find anywhere and the other has no ground wire to it at all.

That's freakin huge. Never really thought about what hauled the jet trucks

Well Wednesday next week the owner of the company is coming out to take a look. He's a master electrician and been in the trade for just shy of 30 years so we'll see what he has to say about it.

I suppose that's possible. We were getting similar results on all the boxes we tested so if they are only galvanized on one side I suppose that would make sense.

Yes wood, makes no sense. I'm not entirely sure which direction, he was doing the testing on that so I didn't see it. We also found that by touching the inside of the outlet box is 5V but touching the outside of the box is 10V. We aren't entirely sure how one side of a metal object can read different than the other and yes it was a clean spot and it was consistent at those voltages.

Ok this got more confusing. We discovered the studs to neutral is 13v. How does that even happen.

Not that the internet is always right but every forum post I see across Google is saying that's how it was done. I've read probably 2 dozen threads across all different sites and they all pretty much have the concerns with the plastic plumbing but they say it was done that way in the past due to a good ground with copper or cast pipes being so deep in the ground. Most of them also say it's important to have your pipes grounded to the panel.

Right and it makes perfect sense what your saying I'm just reading almost everywhere saying that's how it used to be done and it's fine up until the plastic plumbing gets thrown in, then it's not. I'm also reading the NEC used to allow it but that doesn't mean it's not a potential hazard still. However it really can't be worse than just random, constantly energized stuff without ground at all. I also never knew plumbing was tied to electrical at all until researching this so it's all new to me.

It's a violation now but it wasn't in years past as I understand it. They made it a violation after plastic plumbing came into use so really if it bypasses the plastic, it should be just fine. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's my understanding. Now he did run the grounds to the meter (about a foot from where the pipe enters), which is grounded on both sides to outside via a 6 gauge wire going through the cinder block. He ran everything upstream of the PEX to the meter so it bypasses the PEX entirely. Not ideal but this is the cost difference between a $500 repair and a $3k+ one. Ideally he'd run all new wire from the panel but I can do that myself for much much less, I just want this voltage taken care of for now so I don't get shocked or have a fire. The electrical panel is grounded outside so while not grounded entirely up to code, its basically repaired to what was code in the past and it stops any arching. I'll see what he says about code tomorrow, he was pretty confident this was the way to go without rewiring everything. Now I am planning on redoing most of the electrical in the house since I have pretty easy access to everything and some runs have way too much on them. My biggest problem aside from the phantom voltage is that I've got shared neutrals, which don't allow my GFCI/AFCI breakers to work. Once I get that sorted, I can install the GFCI/AFCI breakers and run new wires entirely or dedicated grounds to outlets from the panel.

Plumb crazy 70' Challenger T/A with a 340 6pack I would absolutely positively love to have

In the basement/crawlspace (it's basically a 4ft high basement with a sand floor) and the PEX is random sections between the meter and the faucets, there's a total of maybe 10 feet. The plumbing was originally the ground for those outlets, the PEX broke the ground so he put it back. The white wire is the ground at the outlets so it wouldn't energize the plumbing unless I touched hot while taking said dump, which would shock anyone regardless.

That's what he did. He jumped the PEX section back to the meter.

He basically ran a ground wire from the meter to the plumbing past the PEX and attached the white ground wire in the attic to the plumbing up there. There are a few outlets that have the ground wire but he couldn't find where it went and they still have 2.2v meaning they aren't grounded to anything so that will be looked at as well tomorrow.

Well the electrician came and basically the issue is due to no ground. When someone installed PEX they broke the ground causing the power everywhere. It's phantom power and is visible due to no ground. He got it partially fixed today. Gonna send someone out tomorrow to finish.

Right, they don't want to overcomplicate it for people but then they don't put the info on it people actually need.

This one is on a different wall and is likely the one in the attic

The screw on the closest box is under the box so I have no way to remove it. Also they "dummy proofed" the stove. It doesn't have an amp rating anywhere, just says use wire rated for 125/250 volts or rated for stoves.

Yes I did however the hole they come through the wall is kinda tight and packed with insulation so it doesn't move much.

2 30 amp and 2 20amp.

That's an interesting piece of equipment. I've actually got a guy coming Monday from a larger company so we will see what he comes up with, maybe he will have that equipment. This whole thing makes no sense to me at all. This morning I went through circuit 1 and individually disconnected each outlet to see what the voltage did and each one being disconnected individually caused a slight drop. It's almost like everything on that circuit is causing a fault except the first leg of wiring.