On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:47:00 -0400, Existential Angst wrote:
By the way, I'm glad you expressed your appreciation of this antiquated
wiring, which is often in much better condition than people give it credit
for.

Yeah, that wiring and the brass plumbing was a big part of the decision to
buy.

Sounds like we have similar wiring in our place (late 40s build) - the
problem I've found is generally in the light fittings, where years of heat
from bulbs has slowly cooked things and it's all turned a bit brittle
(fittings which take multiple bulbs being the worst). Cut further back
and it's stood the test of time pretty well.

That and the incredible attic ladder -- I figgered anyone who took the
trouble to install *that* quality ladder in a g-d attic had to have done
the rest of the house right. I was mostly right.

Our place is interesting - it was all built by the old lady who used to
own it, and it seems like she did a piece here and a piece there as and
when she felt like it. Some of it's done extremely well, but then there
are other bits where corners were obviously cut...

I once expressed the opinion that some significant percentage of
electrical fires *must* be due to wire nuts, because cross-sectional
area of electron flow is greatly reduced, even on a properly
twisted/nutted joint, while solder virtually completely eleminates this
conductive bottleneck.

Y'know, I was amazed the first time I visited the US and discovered that
typical wiring was held together with those things - I'd done plenty of
wiring overseas and it was always with junction boxes / fittings that had
proper insulated screw terminals inside. Using a wire nut would be a
hanging offense ;-)

I was, however, sort of shouted down, but I still don't see wire nuts as
anywhere near as effective or safe as soldering.

I've heard that soldered connections can melt if there's a serious
overload - but by that point there are probably other things to be
worrying about anyway. :-)

cheers

Jules