I have seen this mentioned in reference to blowing in cellulose insulation,
and how it is a fire hazard. What exactly is this type of wiring? I have a
house built in 1961, and as far as I know, it just has the cable with fabric
sheathing.

Buck Turgidson wrote:

I have seen this mentioned in reference to blowing in cellulose insulation,
and how it is a fire hazard. What exactly is this type of wiring? I have a
house built in 1961, and as far as I know, it just has the cable with fabric
sheathing.


K&T was used in the Midwest until about 1965.

This link tries to explain the insurance companies' concerns:
http://www.insure.com/home/knobtube.html


Excellent dwgs here of its application just after turn of the century:
http://www.codecheck.com/KNOB_TUBE/knob_tube.htm


Jim

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=wha...nd+tube+wiring

randy
"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
I have seen this mentioned in reference to blowing in cellulose insulation,
and how it is a fire hazard. What exactly is this type of wiring? I have
a
house built in 1961, and as far as I know, it just has the cable with
fabric
sheathing.

"Buck Turgidson" wrote:

I have seen this mentioned in reference to blowing in cellulose insulation,
and how it is a fire hazard. What exactly is this type of wiring? I have a
house built in 1961, and as far as I know, it just has the cable with fabric
sheathing.


The first wiring system used in houses. Insulated wires run on
insulators (the knob) and through short insulated tubes when the wire
has to be run through a wall stud or joist.

Houses were wired up with 2 circuits, usually 30 amps, 3 wire 220v, and
#10 wire, 2 screw in fuses.

K&T wiring is very safe, the workmanship required is very high to do
right, and it was done right decades ago.

Where it is unsafe, is when people expand the wiring buy just adding on
ad hoc, for example, BX that is just connected to the hot and neutral,
since there is no ground in a K&T system.

And way, way past the original limits.

I've seen this exactly once. It's when the old guys used to use porcelean
insulators, nailed in. They would string the wire from porcelean to
porcelean.

Sometimes seen in very old barns.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
I have seen this mentioned in reference to blowing in cellulose insulation,
and how it is a fire hazard. What exactly is this type of wiring? I have a
house built in 1961, and as far as I know, it just has the cable with fabric
sheathing.

You almost certainly wouldn't find knob & tube wiring in a 1961 house.
There is nothing inherently wrong with it, but it did require real
workmanship to install properly and due to the insulation used had a
low temperature rating. To meet code it must be installed in free air
movement. When covered with thermal insulation, it no longer meets
the temperature rating required. In extreme cases, the heat could
build up and cause a fire in the wire insulation or surroundig
materials. In fact, knob & tube could still be installed in certain
cases and meet code.

Dan

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 23:14:52 GMT, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

I've seen this exactly once. It's when the old guys used to use porcelean
insulators, nailed in. They would string the wire from porcelean to
porcelean.

Sometimes seen in very old barns.

Dan wrote:

You almost certainly wouldn't find knob & tube wiring in a 1961 house.
There is nothing inherently wrong with it, but it did require real
workmanship to install properly and due to the insulation used had a
low temperature rating. To meet code it must be installed in free air
movement. When covered with thermal insulation, it no longer meets
the temperature rating required. In extreme cases, the heat could
build up and cause a fire in the wire insulation or surroundig
materials. In fact, knob & tube could still be installed in certain
cases and meet code.

As I posted, it was used in the Midwest almost exclusively until
right around 1965. As for conductor insulation, later installs
all used TW or better, so decaying rubber was no longer a problem.

We have millions of homes out here with original work dating
back to the 20's which is still in good/serviceable shape.
I'm not defending K&T, just saying it was widely used and
(left undisturbed) was very reliable.

Jim

I finally removed the last of my K&T wiring last last month in my 104
yr/old house. The wiring was the first generation installed in the
house (sometime in first half of 20th century). My house had gas lamps
originally.

The K&T was in relatively good condition. The insulation on the wiring
was a little brittle but still fairly strong. My biggest concern was
where new wiring was connected in. I often found connections without
J-boxes and covered by insulation.

-borninPA