On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:31:28 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


"JIMMIE" wrote in message
...
My friend called me up to take a look at some wiring in his garage. He
had an arc in an outlet box and wanted me to check it out. the circut
had a 15 amp breaker, 4 15 amp outlets daisychained. Arc occured
because the backstab connection came lose and shorted against the box.
House was built in 1990. The thing that is a little strange to me is
that the supposedly 14 guage wire is a little small for 14 guage and
is brass colored. Ive never seen any like it. I took a look at a few
more outets around his house and apparently this type of wire was used
throughout his home. The one thing different I did notice in the rest
of the house was that the screws were used instead of the backstab
connections. Can you identify this type of wire and are there any
known saftey issues with using it.

Jimmie


It might help to know what is written on the jacket of the cable. The copper
itself isn't always the same color or hardness, but the gauge should be
consistent

Saw a whole basement wired with copperclad iron telephone wire
(parallel conductor) back when I was househunting last - about 29
years ago. Called it to the attention of the broker.

Looked just like this Swedish stuff:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/hohtola/ham/killu/killu.html
Could not find an american or canadian reference.

It was available in 1mm and 1.4mm (aprox 18 ga and 14 ga respectively)