"PipeDown" wrote in message
link.net...

"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
...
Dick wrote:

I have to get an electrician to lengthen a section of wire as we are
moving
a wall. (I told the electrician that I would supply the materials) The
wire
is a black insulated roundish wire (running in our living room wall)
with no
markings on it. There are 4 wires encased under the black sheathing: 1
black, 1 brown(possibly very faded red), 1 white & a ground. I'm
guessing
that it's 14 gauge but it may be 12 gauge. Just for my curiosity...any
ideas
on what it is?

14/3 w/G Romex (or 12 if not 14). It's almost certainly a carrier
between two 3-way switches. Also almost certainly you're correct that
the brown is actually red.

3 cond wire is often also used to carry 2 branch circuits to another room
in the house. This is permissable as long as the two branches go to
opposite phases in the panel.
And last, and most likely, it carries one constant hot and one switched hot.
In short, it could be any damned thing.