This one was written by Kyle.
As the morning’s cold March wind blew through the still barren trees, a fluffy calico slipped out of the field into a row of barren bushes that line the field. The dawn sun had not yet cleared the horizon. The sky was luminous in places where the light pierced the murky blotches of passing rain which had anti-miraculously left our car covered in splattered mud.
Today we would try to deal with the electrical issues which undoubtedly plague all old homes. Most of the wiring in the original house was cloth. That is, the wiring was 50+ years old and fragile. The wiring was the old plastic coated dual wire wrapped in thick cloth making it twice the diameter of modern romex. The copper in the wires was brittle after all this time and prone to breaking when the old wires were bent. This whole adventure was prompted by a simple enough problem, one of the outlets in the library didn’t work.
This quest led me to the basement to examine the wiring in the ceiling where I discovered an odd joint. Instead of wires connecting in a junction box, there was a wire which just joined another mid run in a T and the joint was wrapped in electrical tape. Yikes.
Ok, going to need some new romex and junction boxes and what not. Following the wires around, this wire ran into a rats nest of exposed wiring, electrocution, and fire hazards.
Job isn’t quite done yet. In the end, we are probably going to have to break up this whole circuit and run a new one or two. It turns out that nearly everything is on this one 15 amp circuit. A light in the basement, a bunch of outlets in the library and dining room, the overhead lights in the library, kitchen, and breakfast nook, all the outlets upstairs in Morgan’s bedroom, Lillian’s bedroom, and the Master bedroom, the overhead lighting in those rooms too, the laundry room lights and outlets, the water filtration system, and the outside lamp post light. Jinkies, how did the previous owners avoid overloading the circuit and/or straining the wiring.
Bear in mind that they did upgrade some wires with romex and replace some busted things. At some point they replaced a floor joist. Mind you, they left the power wire that went through it, but the joist they replaced.
Anyway, it turns out that the bad outlet that kicked off the quest.. Well, it isn’t on this circuit. I did trace it a ways and it went over into the new part of the house, so I’ll have to crawl under there at some point and see where it goes and why it isn’t powered.
Taking a break from the electrical, I decided to do a simple chore and replace some outlets/switches/switch plates that were the wrong color. Go for the easy win. Sadly, it didn’t work. This one in Lillian’s bathroom should have been easy.
However, the wiring inside was messed up and the GFCI outlet wasn’t working. The reset just clicks which indicates there may be an active fault and/or the outlet is bad and needs to be replaced. Ordered a new one. Why are 20 amp lines being merged with 15 amp lines? Hopefully this is on a 15 amp circuit breaker.
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