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Wiring Nightmares - What's the worst you've uncovered?

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    Wiring Nightmares - What's the worst you've uncovered?

    I am just finishing a basement bathroom remodel and it was time to install the new sconces, GFCI but the switches were looking a bit 'ratty', so I decided to pull and replace them. Very happy that I did, though it took much longer than it should have done...

    5 romex cables in a 2 gang box with one single and one dual switch. Cables were supply, feed to GFCI and then one each for overhead lights, sconces and exhaust fan. All sounds good so far except it was a tad cramped in there. Then I started pulling it out. Five hots (3 of them pigtails to the switches) were twisted together with no wire nut and no tape - just exposed in the box! 3 grounds twisted together and another 2 twisted together and NEITHER switch was grounded! The box had two nails through one side into a stud that the hot cluster was brushing and it wasn't attached the other side at all, so was loose, causing movement of said exposed wiring every time you toggled the switches. Surprised we have't had a fire in there. Feeling much safer now.
    cheeryfool

    #2
    Originally posted by cheeryfool View Post
    ... Surprised we haven't had a fire in there. Feeling much safer now.
    Ever the pessimist, I'd be worrying about what other "enhancements" the same electrical genius did in other portions of the house......
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      #3
      Originally posted by ewkearns View Post
      Ever the pessimist, I'd be worrying about what other "enhancements" the same electrical genius did in other portions of the house......
      I prefer to live in darkness. Pun intended.
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        #4
        Originally posted by ewkearns View Post
        Ever the pessimist, I'd be worrying about what other "enhancements" the same electrical genius did in other portions of the house......


        Yes, there seems to be a pattern here, especially with exposed hot/neutrals, where way too much sheathing is exposed. Though I haven't found anything as close to this bad previously.

        There was one other head scratcher...

        The house to garage door was moved at some point - about 6 feet. Apparently moving the switches wasn't in the budget, so they were left in the middle of a now blank corridor wall and separated from the new location by a new wall. Fixed that when I had the Sheetrock down in the garage. Doh.
        cheeryfool

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          #5
          My attached garage was an addition added to my house by the previous owner. (I think he was a plumber)just last week I decided to add an additional outlet by the door in my garage by tapping into another outlet, which I discovered was wired backwards (hot black wire on silver screws). I still have a switch in my closet that I have no idea what it does. I've found so many electrical problems in my house that I have lost count, from gfi's that tripped under certain switch conditions because circuits from two different breakers were tied together to pool pumps that weren't grounded.

          I'm amazed that some people manage to survive as long as they do.
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            #6
            I've been rewiring my circa 1900 home room-by-room as we remodel. Most of the wire was old knob and tube. The most fun thing about this is that the neutral was daisy-chained around the house - each circuit had its own hot, but there were - maybe 3 neutrals shared by the whole house, except for where romex had already been run. In some places the ground was connected to this same daisy chain as well.

            When we first moved to the house, I got shocked by the shield on some coax, as the device it was connected to was "grounded" to a neutral that was carrying 50ish volts according to my multimeter.

            Many other times I'd be working on a circuit powered off at the breaker and get shocked by the neutral.

            It soon came to the point that I had to kill power to the whole house to work on any single circuit, especially after I crawled over an exposed hot wire laying on the floor of the crawlspace and could not roll myself off for a few seconds (only about 18 inches clearance).

            Another "fun" aspect, is that cutting a neutral anywhere in the house could kill power to 3 or 4 rooms, so I had to ensure I had time to rewire all those rooms in a given day (we live in the house) but often had to run temporary power to the rooms until I could get to them.

            I think the old knob and tube wire was about 16 gauge. Rooms in totally different parts of the house often shared a circuit. The pantry (chest freezer, lights), parlor (400 watt chandelier, etc.), stairs (more lights), garage, stairs, dining, and kids' room (lights, window AC, etc.) were all on a single circuit - with 16 gauge wire - connected to a 20-amp breaker. They're now each on their own c20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire, the garage has its won 50 amp sub panel for my tools).

            As best as I can tell, this last round of renovations removed the last of the knob and tube powered areas. I still have to run power to the attic (which was on that one overloaded circuit before) and close walls up, but I'm still pulling low voltage.

            I really need to update my breaker box now as It's full and I've reached the limit of tandem breakers - not to mention it's not in a good area - on the wall in the living room - UGLY.
            John
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              #7
              When we bought our current home, I had high hopes for the quality of the electrical. A 400 amp service, split into four panels. (heat, lights, power, other). The first three were original, the last one added over time. The first renovation we did was in the kitchen. Opened up the plaster wall to discover several live junction boxes stuffed with newspaper and plastered over. Ended up having to pull the plaster off every wall in the kitchen to correct. Have one light switch that does not have any affect, and one breaker which would not reset, but there is nothing in the house missing power. I have removed and capped the wires.

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                #8
                Usually anything I put my fingers on when I was younger is at best suspect, took apart a mains christmas lights project I built when I was about 14 the other day and I was amazed that I am still alive

                I usually like reading some DIY disaster forums if only to see what I have done wrong all this time

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by ewkearns View Post
                  Ever the pessimist, I'd be worrying about what other "enhancements" the same electrical genius did in other portions of the house......
                  Just found the next one in our master bathroom / closet. It was an overdue upgrade of a 3-gang, 3-toggle switch - extractor fan; overhead light and closet lights.

                  4 cables coming in - supply, and feeds to each fitting - so far so good. Hot's all pigtailed - no problem. Neutrals all pigtailed - no problem. Ground.... errr.... Houston we have a problem!

                  Grounds from 2 fixtures and the supply all twisted together and attached to neither switch. 3rd switch was 'grounded' to the fixture (barely) but not connected to the others. Overall zero grounding on 3 switches in a bathroom location. Lovely!
                  cheeryfool

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                    #10
                    I have living room outlets that have load and neutral reversed. The problem is the "hot" appears to come from the other side of the house rather than from a breaker. So shutting off the breaker for the spare bedroom takes down the living room at the other end of the house. Someday I'll have to search that one to the source.

                    And I got warned about connecting a ground wire to use as a neutral.

                    All this safety stuff is way over-rated.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by racerfern View Post
                      I have living room outlets that have load and neutral reversed. . . . . Someday I'll have to search that one to the source.
                      If you have any table lamps in your living room they are likely serious shock hazards!

                      My most recent discovery was a junction box that once had a three-way switch installed as well as a switch for overhead lights. The 3-way had been removed and the traveler terminated with a wire nut. The hot and neutral continued on to other boxes. Not a problem. The switch to the overhead lights was powered by another circuit, but its neutral was connected to the one that had served the the 3-way! Was I surprised when I turned off the breaker for the switch and discovered that the neutral was still hot! Easy to fix, but WHY would someone do that?
                      Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
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                        #12
                        I went into a friend's attic to make sure everything was ready for insulation. He x boyfriend had installed a ton of can lights. They were all wired together simply by twisting them (no nut) and wrapping them in plastic shopping bags and duct tape! I have no idea how that house didn't burn down.
                        Originally posted by rprade
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                          #13
                          I mentioned this in another thread. The original wiring (~1979) had 2 runs of 12-3 w/ground. One to the kitchen and one to the basement. For each of the 3 conductor wires they had 2 20A breakers, one for the red and one for the black. This had the potential for up to 40 amps on the single 12AWG neutral. The scary thing is this was not some previous homeowner, it was built this way and presumably passed inspection. These are all tract homes, so it is safe to guess that most of the houses in this neighborhood were wired similarly.
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                            #14
                            Beginning to feel better about no grounding. I think Colin currently has the leading contender. Keep them coming.
                            cheeryfool

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                              #15
                              We bought this house about 2 years ago and I'm still fixing stuff like this. This is the ceiling of the garage where the garage door closer is plugged in. The plate was broken off and the garage door low voltage sensor wires (spliced with telephone cable and some odd tape) were run through the back of the 120V receptacle. Nah, those wires aren't skinned up, either....


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