The Worst Modified Knob & Tube Wiring Situation I've Ever Seen

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Just wanted to show you guys the terrible mess of wires that were above this false ceiling. Will be making more videos on this project so be sure to stay tuned!
You can support the channel at NO additional cost to you by using one of the above affiliate links. Thank you so much for being a part of this community!
Blessings frim Minnesota,
Ben

[@howardblasingame7961]

"Original" knob & tube, even 100 years old, professionally installed is remarkably durable. TWO hazards: Improper add on's & overloading the old circuits with so many new appliances. 100% rewire.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Agreed. Honestly the actual knob and tube stuff looked to be in great condition with nothing that looked particularly hazardous. The "add on" wiring though was more of the issue.

[@Jon-hx7pe]

deteriorating insulation and no ground are issues as well

[@ricoludovici2825]

Yup. The only problem with original KnT is that the insulation gets brittle close up to the lamps, from the heat. Often, the loom and insulation is till quite rubbery and even has its original tar intact. What we did in Iowa was to run new, code compliant circuits and leave the existing in place without alteration.

[@kenschmidt6522]

@@Jon-hx7pe yes, deteriorating insulation, especially where exposed to heat at light fixtures.

[@steven7650]

The thing is you can over load the hell out of K&T and nothing will happen. The wires are in free air and separated. Modern wire the problem happens as they are close in the same jacket and will then start to arc and spark and poof fire. Not the H/O free air splices yea bad day. Ripping out the K&T at my families I back fed the old stuff as we went along room by room. Get to the next room. Open the previous box, disconnect it and pull from the side you're remodeling.

[@davidredpath4781]

Another fine installation done by “Dewey, Cheatem and Howe”

[@wizard3z868]

All work approved and checked by Allah screwem lol

[@mharris5047]

I have seen Dewey, Cheatem and Howe in reference to a fake law firm and fake accounting firm but not as an fake electrical firm. The county electrical inspector must have been Ah, Fuckit and Bribetaker (with a $200 bribe paid to the inspector).

[@FrankRuiz66]

Back in 1900 that was the top of the mark in electrical work.. The lesser done jobs all caught on fire so the fact it exists to this point in time is pretty freaking cool. That's historical wiring..

[@frankpaya690]

It's pretty sound wiring as well the overcurrent being plug fuses where larger fuses can be put in when you're blowing smaller ones are the questionable part of the system. That and no equipment grounds.

[@davidmarquardt9034]

@@frankpaya690 That's true with the original Edison base sockets. In Wisconsin you had to use Type S inserts, they have a one way ratchet, if you try to remove them they destroy the socket. Inserts were sized for 15, 20, or 30 amp circuits and were NOT interchangeable. The 15 amp fuses were blue, 20 amp were orange, and 30 amp were green. So even if you are color blind, or can't read numbers, a 15 amp will just drop in and rattle around in a 20 or 30 amp socket and a 30 would'ent fit in a 15 or 20. In someways fuses are safer than breakers. A fuse is a simple non mechanical device, whereas a breaker has thermal and electro-mechanical contacts. In fact in the early days of breakers, they would recommend switching them off and on maybe once a year to make sure the contacts were not frozen.

[@4sl648]

The strangest wiring I have seen was in a little hospital building in upstate NY that was built in the 1900 to 1910 range. Knob and tube with knife disconnects and cylindrical fuses on both the hot and neutrals. By the 1980s when I was working there the neutral fuses had been replaced with sections of copper water pipe. Fuse panels were behind glass doors in the corridors. Yikes.

[@NickFrom1228]

My dad was a master electrician. In these situations, EVERYTHING came out. No attempts to make it work or anything like that. It all came out and was done right. You can spend your time analyzing and coming up with working solutions or you can fix it right. He was a real hardass on this kind of thing but he was right.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Yup, that's the way to go for sure! You can spend days fixing old junk and then still not have a great situation when finished.

[@michaelprosperity3420]

I thought the same thing. Rip it all out and do it right.

[@scorpio6587]

Some people disconnect the old but leave it in place, for its antique/historical appeal, and run new stuff separately.

[@aaron74]

@@scorpio6587 If you leave it in place, your homeowners insurance underwriter will still deem the house to "contain old wiring" whether it's energized or not.

[@aaron74]

If the old house is in a gentrified historical neighborhood that is constantly appreciating, then yeah, it could be worth it to tear down all the walls and ceilings and completely rip out the old knob and tube wiring. Besides that, you can install modern insulation, plumbing, and voice/data cabling too. But the vast majority of old houses are NOT appreciating like that, so any serious amount of investment like that may not be realized. Plus, if you're LIVING there while you're doing renovations that are THAT extensive, well, that is hell in and of itself.

[@feyrband]

This is pretty much how all the wiring in my grandparents place seems to look going from maybe the 30s through to 80s from different projects/additions. Will be replacing it all over the years as I renovate room by room.

[@tracyhurst4393]

My house originally had knob and tube wiring in it. Also, they brought in the entrance cable and split it in two. One half went to one box and the other half went to another box. Interestingly most of my 1 1/2 story house was operating one one 20 amp fuse. I never did understand that.

[@billk8780]

My 1920's house had knob & tube. Like others have stated, if done correctly it can last a long time. Like you I replaced it all, especially for the peace-of-mind and adding the ground conductor to the circuits. Remodeling is SO much fun!

[@KarposLazarus]

Was lurking for a long time but then subscribed. I learned alot thank you. Keep at it!

[@calebtownson8888]

Another sweet trick is when people use the ground wire of newer 2condutor romex as the 3rd wire for a 3way switch. Fellow electrians of mine have seen Christmas lights ran in a wall to add another receptacle, one that takes the cake is someone had cut into a service mast that came through the attic space and tapped off the live line side conductors before the meter for a grow op. Crazy people out there

[@duckingcensorship1037]

Wow

[@Sparky-ww5re]

Tapping the service wires before the meter is frighteningly common in illegal grow ops for two main reasons, first, indoor growing operations often include at least a dozen if not more, metal halide and/or high pressure sodium lamps ranging from 400 to 1000 watt lamps, so to make as much a profit as possible, they avoid having their extreme power consumption billed. Second, to avoid suspicious activity from very high power consumption being reported to law enforcement, as this is a good indicator of a grow op.

[@stagggerlee]

My dad bought a 3 story brick house in the late 60's that had knob and tube added to gas lights. The gas ceiling fixtures had been converted and were still hanging from what was wrongly assumed disconnected gas piping. An attempt to insulate the fixture from the pipe had been made but trying to get the fixture tight to the ceiling resulted in having the light come on regardless of the wall switch position. Did I mention that the gas was still connected? I marvel to this day that we did not perish in a giant fireball.

[@thomaslemay8817]

Yes , I saw an entire two story home with knob and tube wiring that used uninsulated or bare copper wire . At the top of the stairs into the attic resided a bare 150w lamp that had been on (no switch) and lit sense the house was built . Fuss box two 30amp no power cut switch . The only switch was on the power Pole out side controlled by a d handle and a push-pull rod about 6 feet off the ground . Entire service was 110-volt.

[@adamplummer2190]

Believe it or not, a light lasts forever when lit. What does the most damage is turning it on.

[@MrFitness94]

@@adamplummer2190 or off. Thermal cycling.

[@thenaughto1056]

I do home inspections and have seen some crazy thinks done with knob and tube wiring. Exposed splices (just soldered together) with no tape/insulation present, wiring in contact with plumbing and or HVAC duct work, missing knob or tubes etc..etc..

[@classic287]

😂🤣Funny stuff. I've seen plenty. Going up in the attic in a house I bought, I stepped on a small junction box and the lights blinked. The box was too small and had 4 BX cables going into it, no caps, just taped together. I spent the next weekend rewiring everything I could get to....

[@dmoreno78]

My 1890-built house had a mix of knob and tube and 14/12 ga. romex. Lots of exposed romex ran along and literally smashed halfway into the slate walls. Some sharp bends and evidence of wire overheating (burnt sheathing). Copper panel and wiring but a lot of aluminum wiring in the upstairs walls. Old thick 120v wires hanging exposed where the original power meter was mounted. The house was extended and has the original exterior inside the house. A house built over a house. Insane.

[@zmaxhunter]

Ben, i deal with that kinda stuff all the time. You will find 3 wire outlets connected to 2 wire systems in many older homes. Imagine if you will... a 120v circuit is hot.. after turning off all single pole breakers, it is still hot..hmm Shut off all the 220 breakers, yup, still hot. Shutoff the 200a main breaker, yup, still hot Remove panel cover, find 12ga wire is literally tapped ie "tek screwed" INTO the "B" phase panel feeder.. Pulling the meter would kill it. Another good one,.. yrs ago, a guy had a small utility/golf cart shed built..his backyard was next to the CountryClub golf course. About 2 decades later sold the house.. New owner needed some electrical work done to the shed.. The shed had been wired to the Line side of the meter..all those years..

[@Know-Way]

Yikes. I once saw a situation where a guy that had no idea how residential wiring worked, tried to steal electricity by installing some lamp cord into the meter side of 200A main breaker in a panel and wiring it to a receptacle. Figured it was free because it didn't pass through the main breaker.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Yikes. That's terrible.

[@dontfit6380]

Ahh yes Darwin’s theory in real time. You should not have interfered with evolution.

[@wizard3z868]

Imagine that set up but with clear scotch tape for the hot connections and masking tape for the neutrals at least the conductors where marked smack my head lol

[@unclemike8467]

I once traced a 50A/240V line from a kitchen oven to the outside main panel. About halfway along, in the attic, I found the insulation stripped on one hot leg and the neutral, wrapped in tape (no wire nuts or junction box) and taps run to the ceiling fan in the room below. This mess was completely covered in loose cellulose insulation. Yikes.

[@Peter89133]

I bought a house built in 1920. It had post and wire inside wiring. These were porcelain insulating posts and bare wire. The house was fed by two 110V circuits. It had a kitchen with a refrigerator and a freezer along with an electric washing machine and a gas dryer. In addition they had a window air conditioner all on one circuit. The other circuit was for lighting and a few outlets. We rewired the whole house to 2012 code and removed all the post and wire wiring.

[@jeremykamel9655]

When I moved into my last house I found the downstairs lights wired with speaker wire. Then I found romex that had been stripped mid run and had wires wrapped around it for a tap to an outlet. Had to gut it all.

[@cliffright1142]

I was so glad to see this video Ben. I’m currently working on a home with the same nightmarish mess as you are looking at. I’ll be working on it this winter when the attic is cooler to work in. Thanks!

[@henrythompson7595]

When I was a kid, lived in a house that was probably built in the late '80's, that is, 1880's. House originally had gas lighting, and was "upgraded" to electric by pulling K&T wires thru gas pipes, that were used as fixtures. No problem, the house was insulated with shredded paper.

[@aaron74]

That's exactly right. Modern electrical conduit today is descendant from old fashioned gas piping.

[@JHorvathCinema]

Lol literally just ripping out a bunch of this stuff right now. Just as bad if not worse, jumpers all over, wires embedded in plaster, you name it.

[@mauricebracken3008]

The flexible insulation is called Loom. I once did a job in an old multi family (3 decker) that used knob & tube for the stairway lighting. They only had 2 conductors between 3 & 4 ways. I took an early lunch break at home and dug out my notes from school. It was called the Carter Multipoint Switch system. It worked, and was apparently legal when installed, but is now considered illegal because polarity to the lamp holders would reverse depending on which switch was in what position. I’m sure glad I kept good notes!! My instructor was probably a generation removed from Edison. Seriously. His Master Electricians license number was a single digit!! I still have a diagram of that Carter system.

[@mernokallat645]

edison was a thief and animal killer.

[@LukeIsyourfasha]

remodeling my kitchen. removed the drop ceiling...revealed some insane wiring set up, then noticed there was another ceiling that started to crumble along with the old insulation. That revealed even more of a mess with knob and tube connections everywhere....needless to say I started looking on youtube and when watching your video i gasped thinking it was my house. I can't wait to watch how you fixed it.

[@glenmartin2437]

A friend of mine went into the basement with his buddy to remove some drywall and supporting lumber. A simple job. Their electric tools did not work or work properly. The hot wires and neutrals were crisscrossed repeatedly. Why the house did not burn down is a mystery. The two spent the rest of the day correcting the wiring problems and getting things to code. Then they finished the simple dismantling job they started hours earlier.

[@etherealregions2676]

My current house doesn't have knob and tube, but it had what I call festive wiring. I had old blue aluminum, orange copper mixed with modern white wire and some weird brown 1970's 14/2 looking wire that I have never seen before. I have been working on replacing it all for about a year. So evey moment of spare time has gone into just fixing the wiring issues. I only have the kitchen, dinning , and living room left to do. But it's been a nightmare removing exactly the type of stuff you just showed.

[@konradpetz7317]

LOL they did have a rainbow of colored sheaths in the 60's to 80s

[@etherealregions2676]

@@konradpetz7317, Yes. All the different wiring through the decades were very colorful, and my house was like a museum of wiring through the past four decades. Unfortunately, the original owners mutilated eveything to the point that I had no choice but to take it all out.

[@dougb8207]

My house was built in 1898, and had many wiring issues when we recently moved in. I'm slowly working my way through them. We've got a couple fixtures that don't work, but mostly switches that don't do anything and I don't know where they lead. Just today I got two outlets working that were miswired. It seems as more people moved in, more people didn't understand what they were doing and mucked things up. It's an interesting challenge. At least a nice 200 A panel had been professionally installed.

[@kenschmidt6522]

We recently bought a 1972 house with an outbuilding that has been a wood shop, barber shop, and an apartment. Neutral switched, multiple junctions with no box, 30 amp breakers for lighting and receptacles.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

I actually found that some of the 14awg wire on this project was on a 20a breaker. It's amazing that houses don't burn down more often.

[@jerichojoe307]

Weirdest wiring situation I ever ran into was an old farmhouse that had A three-way switch from the top of the basement stairs to the bottom of the basement stairs. The switch up top was being fed directly from the circuit box with its own breaker and the switch on the bottom also had a hot lead going to a separate breaker in the box. There were multiple tie ins to each fixture and somehow all of this worked 🤷 even though each of the fixtures was rated at 120. The three-way however did not work. It was as if the switch up top powered the whole system so you can turn the whole basement off and no one from that switch. However the lower switch only worked to power things on and off if the upper switch was in the on position. What baffled me is that all of the fixtures were hooked to both switches somehow so you would think that since they both had their own separate breaker and hot that you would be reading 240 at the fixture. Yet somehow all of these 120 fixtures worked just fine without overloading or overheating and somehow each fixture only read 120 volts. I don't know how it was working but it didn't sit well with me so I ripped it all out and wired it back to a single breaker with a proper three-way and a single junction box as there was only four fixtures down there. 🤷

[@tedlahm5740]

Astonishing how new that old wiring looks.

[@kenbrown2808]

you were correct about the knobs and tubes. and I've seen that same thing done even worse.

[@mikeramirez7024]

The great disadvantage Of knob and tubing no ground wire in place from early 20th century technology. The only advantage is the wires can be pulled as pull wires and replaced it by Romax cabling. That could be possibly done by reusing drilled holes that the early electricians installed the old knob and tubing, when the house gets to be rewire with Non Metallic or metallic cabling.

[@Denny_E_Lee7575]

I see that all the time in the older homes built in the turn of the century. I've seen three drop ceilings built on top of each other in layers crazy when you got to get in there and patch things.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Apparently they used to think the more drop ceilings the better!

[@bayouflats5054]

That’s updated, has insulation. I not sure, but that “ may “ be asbestos. Tubes are great knife sharpeners. 😁 Almost forgot. A building in old town part of city that had bare wire knob and tubing also had three little metal film containers in attic that held film repair manual for GMC’s first automatic transmission. Pretty cool find. 😎

[@rupe53]

probably not asbestos. More likely either old style plaster, which contains cement and horsehair fiber, or Homasote / beaverboard, which is a pressed paper product. Either way, the 100+ year old dust that comes down with demolition is not good to breathe.... and sometimes contains coal dust or rodent droppings.

[@mharris5047]

@@rupe53 If I messed with any of that in an old house I would wear an N95 and pray that the insulation isn't asbestos (which is a possibility). I don't want any of that stuff in my COPD and asthmatic lungs.

[@rupe53]

@@mharris5047 ... I am not aware of any home insulation that was asbestos, other than what was used on pipes. Shredded newspaper or cellulose was way more common back then, if anything. Still, you'd be smart to protect yourself in a demo project. Plaster dust is loaded with the same crap as crumbling cement, but the particles are finer.

[@edcallahan6952]

I like your videos, I have seen plenty of knob and tube installations. Here in the Midwest the rea installed most house and farm electrical services because most rural places didn't have electricity till after 1946. The insulating flexible tube you see on each conductor is called loom. The worst thing about knob and tube wiring is the splices in the walls or ceiling they were soldered and then taped with the limited loads then probably a 60 watt bulb hanging from the ceiling,pull chain or key switch on the socket, they didn't even use a switch leg, and maybe an electric toaster, the first appliance was usually an electric refrigerator. Keep the good videos coming the neutral is usually fused also in the old installations.

[@rpmspeedyblue]

In my attic when fixing a ceiling fan which was installed wrong I found romex wire stripped (hot and neutral) about 2’ of bare wire separated with a Piece of fiberglass insulation. The wire was live. When I saw this I turned off the main panel and went through the whole wire system in the attic. Found very similar wire connections like what you encountered. No junction box/ junction box with no connectors!

[@dougb8207]

Oh brother; that's terrible! I don't see much excuse for leaving something in that condition. It's not like Romex is expensive, at least for that amount needed to properly replace.

[@rpmspeedyblue]

@@dougb8207 most people who try to do there own electrical install have no clue what they are doing. The worst is when they think they know how to do it. I was fortunate that I didn’t get hurt or the house didn’t catch fire. The ceiling fan that I was intended to trouble shoot because it started to smoke when you turned it on was installed with the original old works ceiling box held together with #14 wire to the stud and nail. I had to redo all the ceiling boxes with the appropriate ceiling fan box.

[@brodie7838]

The K&T in your video is in amazingly good condition, all of the stuff I find the insulation is cracked so much you can often see whole sections of bare conductor. In my house I often saw in-line splices (no box and no wire nuts) in the joist space which would have matching scorch marks on the wood behind the junction - presumably from modern appliances overloading the wiring and especially the electrically-poor splices. My favorite find was when I recently pulled a failing receptacle out of its junction box to find a K&T branch coming off the secondary lugs and out the bottom of the box. After investigating all junction boxes in the immediate vicinity and not finding any other K&T, I started gently pulling on it just to see what I'd get. Ended up pulling 6' of K&T wire out to find that the wire didn't actually go to anything at all and was just hanging out, live & exposed in the stud space below, for 16 or so years. Scariest was when I discovered several relatively new NM runs that had been chewed down to bare conductors by mice.

[@keithhults8986]

100yrs ago, armored cable made its entrance. I live in a 100yr old home, all wiring in BX. about 1918 BX made its debut and knob&tube became obsolete.

[@normferguson2769]

I found similar crazy wiring done in a commercial building last year. It turns out the old electrician looking after the place knew how to do it but was a drunk. I added a bunch of boxes and Marr connectors (instead of black tape holding stuff together). I pray I found all of the bad wiring work.

[@drescherjm]

I have seen 18AWG extension cords involved in the mix of outside the box junctions.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

How smart!

[@steverosenbaum2469]

Been there done that. Bought a 1930s house. Advertised new electrical rewire. New meter panel, new wiring into old gutted meter panel and spliced into knob and tube branch circuit wiring. Don't know how the city passed it. Total Rewire!

[@gregguiltner8764]

Not even close to the worst I've seen! I remodeled a 120 year old home. It had a new panel and romex wire everywhere you could easily see, but it was all tied back into knob & tube in the attic, and nearly everything in the house was on a single circuit! We also found recepticles and abandoned switches inside walls that had been drywalled over, but were still hot. Yup...ended up re-wiring everything.

[@Sparkeycarp]

Yes, I have had to replace knob and tube a couple times. Some rental management companies will not accept rental houses with it.

[@fastsetinthewest]

NEW SUBSCRIBER. Interesting videos. I'm a drafted disabled Republic of Vietnam combat, 68. I worked in the corrupt USA government after Vietnam and getting all those fancy degrees. Eaglegards...

[@keithhults8986]

I do my best in super old homes! If you are not a very skilled electrician, do not play with knob&tube. Playing with knob&tube was a regular part of my day. I've seen much worse situations. I live in a historic area. I have restored and hid the new cabling on numerous historical registry homes. They are museums. Historical landmarks. The battle of Long Island happened here, in the fights for our nations independence. Washingtons spy network. Watch the series "Turn" That all happened on Long Island and allot of those buidings are still standing.. My first volunteer job 15yrs old, doing the blacksmithing, making hardware for historic homes at the Bethpage historical museum.

[@jacobw446]

To me, if you already have the walls open, might as well run new romex and update it. Make it last another 100 years.

[@lockpickingvlad]

I recently came across a kitchen circuit where there were two cables joined together. One cable was going from the main panel and another cable going from the subpanel. It took me a while to figure out why it was hot when the breaker was off 😅

[@raystarky3896]

Yes! had to do a complete rewire on a house built in 1925 Kelso, washington. The home inspector did not like the 100yr old wiring (even though it had no power in the old wiring) left up in the attic had over 150 of them had to take out, and there was so much wiring left over i could reconnect old circuits that were disconnect for years, but most of the insulator and wiring i saved as antiques old memories. And yes i worked on a old house back in 1989 the so called :knob and tube" was the the old wiring that was put up in 1894 was a Tar and cloth that wrapped the old wiring as it was easy to see the cloth and tar was coming falling apart

[@sellersandson3198]

That is common to see in my area. I’m a home inspector and it never surprises me when I find stuff like this.

[@Sparky-ww5re]

My parents brought a craftsman bungalow built in 1927 6 years ago. Was told the wiring had been upgraded to NM cable, and it appeared to be along with a 100 amp square d breaker box. All looked well so far. That was until they discovered what was probably the original service panel, used as a sub panel, in the closet next to the master bed, still live and feeding knob and tube. 2 circuits, fused on both hot and neutral, there were 4 Edison fuses along with an open knife switch above the 4 fuses, as the disconnect. In the attic there was modern grounded romex spliced into the knob and tube circuit, and they tried to ground it by connecting a wire from a nearby steam pipe to the ground wire inside the romex, so a three light outlet would lead you to believe there is no older wiring in use. Safe to say, all the old equipment is out of service.

[@ryanjermyn4299]

My buddy has a house in the city that was 100years old and the nob and tube had been “replaced”. When we removed the plaster and lathe in the living room we found they had only replaced it in the basement. The stuff in the house you are working on has a sheath on the wire. My buddy’s house was all bare wire. They had blown in insulation in the outer walls and it was all black around the wire.

[@dariusdollar175]

I’m dealing with this exact issues. Great video.

[@STXVIEC]

WOW ive never seen knob and tube in such great condition. Most of the time its so brittle to the point that the insulation has just disintegrated and theres nothing left but exposed aluminum. So thats really interesting how they tapped off it and left everything hidden lol

[@yehudivenuti]

my house is over 110 yrs. rife with knob and tubing. when i moved in it ran on 3 20 amp screw-in fuses. i had the fuse box replaced, but have yet to afford a whole re-wiring.

[@anonamouse5917]

They should bring back Knob & Tube. You kids and your Romex.

[@davidschwartz5127]

I came across a similar situation in a house my sister just purchased for a rental unit, the difference was where you had Romex, she had 18 gauge Walmart extension cords with the end cut off, (zip cord) I told her there is no way you can rent this place out and sleep at night! She gutted the building and I rewired it completely from the utilities incoming line.

[@erbewayne6868]

Originally if installed correctly was a good system as the wires were 6 to 8 inches apart . The holes where the tubes run thru the joists are good for running Roman or bx. .

[@duckingcensorship1037]

My parents knob and tube 1890 house, that was possibly wired when built? .. was still knob and tube until 2017 when we sold it, after their passing, to a union electrician who obvious rewired it completely. If wired properly and left unmolested, it was great for it's time for sure.

[@cgschow1971]

This is a common site for me in older buildings with lowered or drop ceilings. They leave the existing fixtures buried above the new ceiling and either screw a socket adapter on the shell or dangle the fixture and tie into the wiring to power the new fixtures below. Not always a tgrid ceiling. Mostly drywalled in and inaccessible.

[@kpdvw]

Out of sight, out of mind as long as the false ceiling is left alone...!

[@poorfesor]

That is pretty modern stuff considering the wires all had insulation still on them. The stuff I remember as a kid in our attic was mostly bare wires that insulation had just rotted away.

[@anthonylosego]

Yeah the previous owners of my old house had hots wire nutted to neutral. I was wondering why when I flipped on the light it was dimming. Seems the draw was not enough to trip the breaker. They must gotten lucky and it was not secure enough to dead short. Yet that would have been preferred to having a toaster in the ceiling. Turns out I just pulled every box and junction I could find, toned it out and rewired everything with new termination hardware. I was not taking any chances.

[@elc2k385]

I have the same Olite Perun 2 headlamp. I LOVE it.

[@Sylvan_dB]

That is relatively new K&T and a weird mix on the original install. It has the tubes thru the wooden structure members, and knobs to end the runs, but having insulated wires is very rare and mostly negates the need for the tubes and the knobs. Most of the K&T was bare copper. I've seen several K&T installations, and never with insulated wires. And I've seen a couple of installs with insulated single wires like that, but they didn't use any ceramic K&Ts.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Interesting. I've never seen the bare wire you're talking about. I've seen quite a bit if knob and tube but all of it was insulated as far as I remember. Could be that the area I live in didn't have "modern wiring" installed until after they switched to insulated wiring.

[@Veritas-invenitur]

@@BenjaminSahlstrom I’ve only seen bare wire installations a couple of times. Those were on the really old side of town. Most K&T is insulted. Often, the insulation is damaged or dry rotted to the point it’s falling apart. Once in a while I run into a service call at a K&T house with a 60 amp fuse board? Those are always fun. But as fun as they are, they will never be as fun as the time I saw an entire house wired with lamp cord. Whomever did that was an ass and they knew exactly what they were doing. The receptacle for the range had 8 parallel #18 lamp cords as it’s home run.

[@duckingcensorship1037]

@@Veritas-invenitur Wow...

[@mharris5047]

@@Veritas-invenitur I can't even imagine wiring a house with 18 AWG wiring. I don't even like 14 AWG but people still use it on lighting circuits.

[@MT-bc1we]

that's out there! at least the wires are insulated.

[@anthonyelectric6045]

So basically “Cleanup On Isl 2”. Old houses with properly done knob & Tube are fine. Until you need a EGC or additional loads not rated for the old wire and insulation. Re wire is best and safest if budget allows. Good luck B

[@g337]

Hey Benjamin, you have some really good content on your videos. I’m going to be Installing LED light strip in my closet. I want to tap into an existing NM cable that’s in the closet already. what’s the code for NM cable being exposed in a closet. Thank you in advance.

[@davidskipperskip5403]

Yes almost the same and the wire in the job almost enough to do the job correctly except the length from new panel box .Wiring take the time do it right like you do at least safely.

[@kevinpoore5626]

It's called Old House syndrome and they're loaded with fun stuff I know that's what I do for a living I deal with the older houses where most people don't want to because they're full of flavor LOL

[@wcurtin1962]

I had a house with knob and tube on the first floor, cloth covered Romex in the basement and DX upstairs.

[@Merescat]

If the K&T are not overloaded and left alone, they"normally" are ok. Air was the main insulation as "normally" no insulation in the walls or ceilings. (All you safety folks notice the "normally"). Now I would rewire and not use it anymore., but would save all the fixtures. Look forward to the video.

[@graciebonsai7272]

I've seen a house that had lamp wire extension cords strung together in the attic crawl space and dropped through the wall plates to connect to the receptacles.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

Oh man...

[@PetrolJunkie]

An entire house being run through a single 100 amp glass fuse. There was 100 amps of current available at every outlet and lamp in the entire house. The whole house was wired with knob and tube. Needless to say the power company wouldn't install a meter in the house until that was fixed, I'm not sure how anyone missed that.

[@cgschow1971]

100 amp glass fuse?? Thought they only went up to 30 amp. Everything above that was cartridge or blade fuses.

[@PetrolJunkie]

@@cgschow1971 You're talking about a house that was wired before there were any real regulations or standards. It was cartridge-shaped in that it was a glass tube with copper end bells about the size of a Redbull can and a section of bare copper wire attached between the end bells. It may have been an early attempt at making a cartridge. It had been in its holder for so long you were not getting it out without some serious effort and breaking things. The "box" was an open rectangle with a hinged cover and a flip catch with a knife switch that controlled power through the whole house. Two of the glass fuses side by side with a single phase two conductor lead-in from the pole. (The down transformer on the pole was so old it was illegal to be in service.) All of the wire ran back to two bus bars. One for the hot, one for the neutral. There was no ground anywhere in the system. You could have literally pulled the full amount of current those fuses could handle from any outlet or device anywhere in the house. The ink stamp on the glass read 100 amp. How accurate that stamp might have been is anyone's guess. How there was never a fire I have no idea beyond it mostly powered lights which consisted of single bulb wall fixtures. There was one non-polarized two-prong three outlets in a single gang ceramic outlet in most of the rooms. No boxes, the "plate" with all the metal contacts on the back was just screwed into the lath and plaster walls with a hole big enough to accommodate the stuff behind the plate. I'm not kidding you when I said the power company wouldn't even turn the power on to a new meter until all of it was removed.

[@Krankie_V]

My garage was wired with what looked to be a bunch of scraps. Short pieces of romex all spliced together out in the open with no junction boxes. An old busted up west ghouse panel, and the lights were fed by multiple lamp cords wire nutted together out in the open without grounds or junction boxes. Fortunately the 100A service wire had been professionally replaced. A friend and I ripped all of that shoddy crap out and rewired the whole building with a new panel and all.

[@chrisv4640]

I have seen those clamp knobs and i have seen round knobs with no clamp.. they used a scrap of wire to very securely wrap around the wire on each side of the knob.

[@alfonsolopez1915]

Bumped in the same situation in my house, ended up installing new wiring system instead than figuring out old existing one.

[@chrisE815]

I have lived in an apartment/split up 1800s house with knob and tube wiring. It's a solid system but the issue (per usual) are the idiots doing the remodeling. Funny thing is, half the time these are paid contractors. Gotta love "professionals"

[@Jon-hx7pe]

likely general contractors, not electricians

[@chrisE815]

@@Jon-hx7pe yes, but they know better

[@mattchilders3123]

My whole house was knob and tube wiring when I purchased it in 1988.

[@trumpetmaris]

My 1941 house originally had K&T, but most was replaced. I still find some of the knobs out in the garage or shed, but the main house has been stripped and rewired. Originally it was with bare wires, so the woven insulation on yours is more modern. it was perfectly fine wiring, if done right. remember they didn't have modern materials like the PVC insulation we have today.

[@scorpio6587]

A little bit older, and those old wires would have been bare. That is why they spaced them out and supported them the way they did.

[@DougsHomestead]

I've seen the knob and tube with bare wires, still working in the 90s.

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

That's wild.

[@garrysekelli6776]

Hey if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[@wolmntn]

Looks like the house we moved into in SC. House was inspected and I had to fix or replace 1/4 of the wiring.

[@Fireship1]

New home run all the way back to the service panel. If that’s old, change it out too. I’d then go through all the other rooms. Better to know everything is new and to code.

[@larrylightner5638]

The house that I bought in 2017 in California has active knob & wire & the add-on addition was tied into the knob & wire with romex the same as in the video. It was Never properly permitted or inspected. Big cover up

[@josephlathrop1914]

Knobs are used to run wire Parallel to Joists and Studs Tubes are used to go through them.

[@Tigger81762]

My first house I bought from the lady whom her husband built for her as a wedding present. No saying this the man was a GE engineer he worked at the big company in Fort Wayne Indiana so the house is always maintain in the house was always up-to-date she was widowed in the middle 60s bad and he left enough money to live on for the rest of your life and to take care of the house so she always had it updated so when I bought the house and had it inspected the only place that there was any kind of tube knob in the house was just the tube knob that ran to the attic light everything up to the light switch and up to the attic had been completely redone the whole electrical in the main floor of the upstairs bedrooms in the basement had complete rewired. So I bought it then changed it. The house is built in 1927 I bought the house in 1992 my father is an electrician so I’ve seen a lot of things but that was the first time I actually ever seen tube and knob wiring

[@TheRealJerseyJoe]

I did a complete renovation on a 1880's Victorian.... believe me, I've seen it all ! Oh yeah, and this is why houses burn down and they burn down fast because of their balloon construction. Yikes !!!

[@BenjaminSahlstrom]

When I remodeled my house I blocked off the cavities between floors to reduce the danger of the balloon construction.

[@TheRealJerseyJoe]

@@BenjaminSahlstrom -- Yes, I did the same. It's essential ! Good luck with your project, I know you'll do a marvelous job. All the very best !!!

[@konradpetz7317]

Did a few rewires were the wall fixtures were dual source. Top was gas and bottom electric. the gas piping was connected but dead . It was kinda cool. and the electric stove was knob and tube as well.

[@thename9552]

I had to go into a friends aftic and it had that post wiring but it was none insulated. Just post and bare wire. Nice cottage house in san diego. Not sure of the houses age.

[@ricoludovici2825]

As pointed out below, if KnT was so bad, all those farm houses around you would have burned up a long time ago. But they didn't. The only place where the conductors touch would be in the circuit box. When properly installed, the wires enter on opposite sides of the box. Problems arise when the wires are simply taped together before they enter the box. This is usually done by a later homeowner or handyman. Originally, the hot went up one side of the building and the neutral came up the other. They met at the switch or the lamp. Another problem is overloading the circuit. Most of that old wiring is #14 or smaller. And often the insulation is hard and brittle. However, the leads are air insulated. Same as power lines. Okay, no ground. that is a problem when electricity is in proximity to metal water or gas piping. But in houses that age, it was never a problem with only one or two receptacles and one lamp and one switch per room. Including the kitchen. And yes, working in the midwest 50 years ago, I have seem a LOT of messes like that. But those knids of installations are not limited to days of yore. My own house in Las Vegas , ca. 1955, had multiple connections without covers on the boxes, splices outside of boxes or hidden in the ceiling, or no boxes at all. Done in Romex. Meanwhile, all the EMT or steel conduit in the slab had rusted to the point that current was leaking into the DIRT. Yes. Hot patch of concrete in the original slab. I replaced every piece of wiring except for one run under the slab that had no problems. Fun job you got there. Takes me back.

[@edp9743]

The knob and tube appears to be installed correctly, in free air, passing through joists with a tube , supported by knobs, entering into a fixture with conductors in loom , hopefully the circuit was properly fused. . Switching would have occurred on a pendent hung off the porcelain fixture on the ceiling. If you were lucky there would be one duplex outlet in the baseboard of the room.

[@aaron74]

Oh yes, that's some hack work done by a non-electrician. I live in an old house with KnT wiring. What I've learned is to leave it alone to the extent you can. The hot and neutral conductors can run divergent paths throughout the house, behind the walls and ceiling, and they're just more pain to deal with than they're worth. They're totally fine for lighting and receptacles that have light loads plugged into them. Instead, you just run new 14/2 or 12/2 for modern grounded circuits throughout the house. Of course you can and should correct things like making sure splices are in boxes, replacing damaged runs with 14/2 as necessary, etc. Also you got the terms right; the porcelain tubes goes through joists, and those porcelain clamp-posts are the knobs. That protective sheath the conductor goes into is called loom.

[@JasonEDragon]

From what I saw in remodeling my house that had knob and tube wiring, I wouldn't trust any of that wiring that I could not fully inspect visually. Sure, a lot of it was done well and might be safe if undisturbed, but I uncovered one too many once hidden areas where shorts could have occurred due to wires being close and the insulating having deteriorated. As an example, a few wall lights were connected to the knob and tube wiring behind the plaster by about 3 feet of what must have been the 100 year old version of cable - smaller than lamp cord and I still recall the crunch that it made when I bundled it up to throw it away. If I had unknowingly tried to fish some new Romex through that wall cavity and it bumped that cable then it easily could have caused a short. I thought that I had disconnected the last of my knob and tube wiring 25 years ago only to discover a section still energized 10 years ago when I remodeled my kitchen that was last remodeled in the 60s. The only thing worse that sloppy Romex to knob and tube connections are neat connections that are hard to notice. I thought that a piece of Romex above a drop ceiling entered a wall to feed a receptacle below, but it was actually feeding some knob and tube just beyond the plaster. I used to avoid taking down old lathe and plaster when I remodeled a room, but now it all has to come off and go in a dumpster - the only way to be comfortable that hidden problems don't remain.

[@aaron74]

@@JasonEDragon Yeah. I hear you. I've lived in lath/plaster houses my whole life. If the house is in a good neighborhood and worth remodeling *AND* you can live somewhere else while you're working on it *AND* you can stand shoveling HEAVY demolition debris that causes plumes of dust into a wheelbarrow out to a dumpster, it's well worth it to gut out the wiring, run new plumbing, insulate, etc! It is a serious demolition undertaking and you can really find yourself in over your head quickly.

[@davidjaye710]

looks like the mess i had in my cabin .... scary stuff man! lol i can send you a pic if interested... be safe!

[@williamwilson6499]

Had a house built in the 30s…full of knob and tube. Tore it all out and had it rewired to the current code.

[@bartofilms]

I have a K&T / conventional set up in my place. Worried about it...

[@joeyjennings9548]

i was in an attic with knob & tube just bare wires. across the rafters looked like a place to hang clothes. easily could get your head zapped.

[@IGoProEVERYTHING]

I had knob and tube patched with romex and that was not even close to the worst thing.

[@residentJokeBiden]

I got a situation here at grandmas house that she payed for the upgrade in the 90s from knob and tube and fuses to circuit breakers where there is no main box its 2 subs no ground and some knob and tube left in the house. The disconnect is on the powers service entry

[@residentJokeBiden]

Its now my house cause she left it to dad and i payed my sisters for their half when dad passed on and mom and i are upgrading it slowly while i get the money for it

[@residentJokeBiden]

O and the service run isnt as short as possible. It goes all the way through the whole house to the farthest away bed room then to the loads. Im buying better panel boxes first