[AT] One additional wiring note

Thu Dec 9 07:42:29 PST 2004

That sounds familiar George.  LOL.  Oh the good ole days.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Willer" <gwill at toast.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] One additional wiring note

> Charlie,
>
> Marilyn and I bought our first home in 1957... an old fixer-upper.  It had 
> the open fuse box on the back porch.  It had really good fuse 
> protection... all 4 fuses were wired in series so that any one could blow 
> and protect the #14 knob and tube wiring???   Only one leg was available 
> so we only had 120 volt service.  The electrical service had to be updated 
> and indoor plumbing added before we could move in.
>
> George Willer
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "charlie hill" <chill8 at cox.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 8:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [AT] One additional wiring note
>
>
>> The issue of loose wire connections is particularly important if you 
>> happen to have any aluminum wiring in your house or shop.  That stuff 
>> tends to loosen up over the years and can cause real problems...really 
>> hot problems!
>>
>> Cecil, your experience with the nickle in the fuse box reminds me of a 
>> house I lived in many years ago.  It was an old house, over 100 years 
>> old. One of those houses you see here in the south that is referred to as 
>> a shotgun house.  It had a large center hall that went from the front 
>> door to the back door, 2 rooms on each side of the hall (each with a 
>> fireplace) and a kitchen off the rear in an L configuration to the rest 
>> of the house.
>>
>> I had just moved in a few days before.  It was winter time and about 8:30 
>> pm on a Sunday night.  I turned something on and a fuse blew.  I found 
>> the fuse box out on the front porch.  It was one of those old fuse  boxes 
>> with the disconnect lever on the side.  I opened it up to find NO main 
>> fuses, 2 holes for glass fuses and only one, now blown, 30 amp fuse. 
>> That's right the whole house was running on one 30 amp fuse.  Well except 
>> for the kitchen stove that was wired up seperately some how. ( I don't 
>> remember now just how)
>>
>> It gets worse!  I decided to search out the wiring circuits.  What I 
>> found was 2 wires about size 12 maybe that ran in seperate strands on 
>> porcelin insulators.  This was run on top of the ceiling joists in the 
>> attic.  I crawled up in the attic and found a horrible sight.  The wires 
>> had gotten so hot that they had burned the cloth insulation off and had 
>> sagged down onto the ceiling joists, pine bead board ceiling material and 
>> the little bit of insulation someone had put in years before.
>>
>> I didn't know what to do.  It was Sunday night!   Then I remembered that 
>> Montgomery Wards was about 5 miles away and was open until 10 every 
>> night. By this time it was after 9pm.   I jumped in my car and zoomed 
>> over to Wards where I bought a roll of  Romex and some other odds and 
>> ends.  I got back home about 10:15 and proceeded to re-wire a good bit of 
>> the house before I went to bed that night.  I made sure everything that 
>> was going to draw current during the night was safe before I went to 
>> sleep.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Cecil E Monson" <cmonson at hvc.rr.com>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 6:59 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] One additional wiring note
>>
>>
>>> As Farmer said, checking for loose screws and connections it
>>> your main panel box is important. Overloading circuits will cause fires
>>> - if not right away, eventually.
>>>
>>> About 40 years ago, we had bought a two family house and had
>>> been in it for about a year. This house had the old knob and tube wiring
>>> and had 30 amp service that served both upstairs and downstairs 
>>> apartments
>>> in the house. This setup gave me a quick lesson in electrical safety.
>>>
>>> Unbeknownst to me, the tenants upstairs had decided it was much
>>> better to use all electrical appliances in their kitchen instead of 
>>> cooking
>>> on the gas stove. They had everything up there under the sun that was
>>> electrical and when cooking apparently used most of these appliances at
>>> the same time.
>>>
>>> One evening just as it was getting dark, I happened to go down
>>> the cellar stairs. The light switch was halfway down the stairs and just
>>> as I was reaching for it, I saw a red glow ahead of me. When I turned 
>>> the
>>> lights on, I saw it was coming from the panel box. Those old 30 amp 
>>> boxes
>>> had cartridge fuses for the mains and if I remember correctly, 4 
>>> screw-in
>>> glass fuses for circuits in the house. As I opened the cover of the box,
>>> I saw that the entire rear of the box was red hot - a fire ready to 
>>> start.
>>> I pulled handle and shut off power to the house and called a friend of
>>> mine who was a licensed electrician. He came right over and checked the
>>> fuses first thing. Wouldn't you know, the tenant had put a nickel coin 
>>> in
>>> behind the glass fuse that served his kitchen because, as he said later,
>>> it kept blowing fuses.  Geez, that was scary.
>>>
>>> I don't remember what we did to be sure the electric service was
>>> safe to use that night but the next day we cut in a new electric panel
>>> and then over a period of time, rewired the entire house with new wiring
>>> wherever we could get to it. I was very lucky as these old houses with
>>> balloon framing were known to go up quickly in a fire and that panel box
>>> was under both the main entrance to the house but also under the stairs
>>> leading to the upstairs apartment.
>>>
>>> Cecil
>>> -- 
>>> The nicest thing about telling the truth is you never have to wonder
>>> what you said.
>>>
>>> Cecil E Monson
>>> Lucille Hand-Monson
>>> Mountainville, New York   Just a little east of the North Pole
>>>
>>> Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment
>>>
>>> Free advice
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> AT mailing list
>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 