Re: Grandpa's '28 526 - The good, The bad, and the Ugly

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/11/26 21:39:49

PackardV8, my house, built 1914, still has renmants of its original knob and tube wiring. The house was electrified about 1920. Knob & tube was used well into the 20s. It DOES NOT use naked copper wire; insulated wire is run, usually about 1 foot apart, and where it passes thru rafters etc. it passes thru porcelain tubes for protection which can be ganged together via a knob at one end. Where junctions are required the insulation is stripped and the joining wires soldered and wrapped. I know, this is a lousy description of it, but hlpe you get the picture. Though antiquated it's very safe in that generally the two wires have extreme separation. Biggest problem is no ground.

PS - if this is still going on tomorrow, I'll go take some pictures of vintage knob and tube wiring.

WAY OFF topic, but one of the interesting things to me was when the electrified a house with original gas lamps, when the did ceiling lamps the wires were run thru the original gas pipe in the ceiling plaster.