On 10/27/2010 9:39 PM, JIMMIE wrote:
On Oct 27, 9:14 pm, wrote:
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

Wire color can vary. Overheating caused by age, a loose connection and
overheating can add to that.

For a home built and inspected in 1990 I would not be unduly concerned.

This is about the time that the MFG learned how to spin the wire down to the
absolute 14G. It may appear smaller than what you are used to seeing since
many of the older wires were slightly oversized.

As always, proceed with caution.

--
Colbyt
Please come visithttp://www.househomerepair.com

Checked the wire size with a guage and compared it to new 14 guage
wire used to replace the old section( garage is unfinished). The old
wire was definitely smaller. The wasnt any legible writing on the wire
but appeared to be standard Romex type cable. One thought I had was
maybe it was a metric size. Dont really know if there is such a thing
as metric cable but just a guess.

Jimmie
Could it be European or Asian Romex? I was in Thailand a few years
back and found Romex wiring used in the hotel where I was staying.
First, I couldn't believe that a commercial building used Romex and
second it looked like thermostat wire. I think it was something
like 16 gauge IIRC. I think they use a 7 amp 240 volt circuit like
we use 15 amp 120 volts in the US, for lighting circuits, etc.

But if it was 16 gauge, it would be wrong on a 15 amp circuit.