On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:17:57 +0100, "Bob Watkinson"
wrote:

IF it is copper (check)

Oh! Just had a thought..

I remember reading somewhere about an aluminium mains wiring system
that was used in the 50s/60s. It's not aluminium wire is it?

Problems occured as the ends of the wires corroded at the point they
were secured by the brass terminals. The corrosion would cause high
resistance, overheating and potentially fire.

From what I can gather installations using aluminium wire were fairly
rare, but there must be some of it left out there to this day.

sponix