Hi, I am doing a sweep on my home and checking everything from structure to electrical,attic,etc.I found that I have maybe old knoband tube wiring.the home does have some upgraded romex outletsexisting.The funny looking wiring has what look like a white porcelain loooking gadjet that is round and has a nail sticking thru it and a piece of wire going into.The top knob just unscrews and acts as some sort of clamp,don't really know.Anyways,a wire has corroded(just my luck) and broke in to when I barely touch it and now some of my lights are not working.When the wires are touched back together the lights affected turn back on.Can I just retwist it together since there is a little slack and put a wire cap on it,or can I just pull out that line from whence it broke and add 14/2 romex or just a pigtail at the broke section? Some wiring in my home may be aluminum but copper color has that cloth around it and some has worn all the way off which I am thinking to wrap in electrical tape and not leave exposed? Thanks
Yes that is what knob and tube wiring looks like. The insulation that broke is the reason the system must be replaced ASAP. Also remove all of the aluminum wire, it is an extreme fire hazard. Have a qualified professional electrician do the work. This is vital for the safety of those in the house and the neighbors. KT is a fire waiting to happen and it may void your fire insurance if it is not replaced. You need an electrical upgrade now, also check the main panel and the meter and service drop. Upgrade to a 200 amp service and panel when the work is done. Any smaller is not a reasonable solution to the modern use of electricity. Turn off the power to all damaged wires and have them replaced. Call a qualified professional electrician to do the work today.
I would get a qualified electrical engineer to take a look because you can't see areas that are not exposed, and it sounds to me that your house might need rewiring for your own safety and also to meet regulations.
Ken_ray, you, of course, are free to do as you please about your own property, as long as you don't get the gov't. involved, but I live in a house built in 1904 and it has quite a bit of ball and tube wiring that we use every day. As long as you don't overload those circuits, they will, most likely, serve you well for many years to come. However, if you're like a large portion of folks nowadays, who have to have every possible whistle and bell on every appliance they can find to add more and more load to our power supplies, then you might want to consider a complete upgrade, to a bigger panel and normal, CODE SAFE wiring. If it were mine, I'd find the breaker associated with that circuit, shut it down, strip off some insulation a ways back on both ends and install a new piece of #12 in between the two ends with a couple of good wire nuts, tape them up and call it good. It is, of course, as I said earlier, your call.
