20/01/13 10 Wiring Problems Solved | Electrical | Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical | This Old House - 1

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It's not just the nation's power grid that's antiquated.
The wiring inside many houses is also out of date,
straining to supply our ever-growing collection of
electricity-hungry appliances, lighting, and
electronics.
"The circuits in these older homes weren't designed
to power the many gadgets of modern life," says
electrician Allen Gallant, who has wired six This Old
House TV project houses.
The signs of strain may be obvious a tangle of
extension cords and power strips sprouting from a
single outlet or lurking unseen behind walls,
ceilings, and cover plates.
Protecting the Box
Fuse boxes, like this one, are less common these
days than circuit breaker panels, but they work just
fine unless someone installs fuses with a higher
amperage than the wires can safely handle. That
can cause the wires to overheat, damaging their
protective insulation and increasing the risk of fire.
Once the insulation has been damaged, the danger
remains even if the offending fuse is replaced with
one that's the proper amperage. To fix it, the old
circuit must be rewired.
Some wiring problems are just inconveniences. But
others can pose serious fire or electrocution
hazards. If you're buying a house (especially one
that's more than 50 years old), or if you've never had
your wiring inspected, it's a good idea to hire a
licensed electrician to give your home a thorough
going-over. "He'll look at the insulation on the wires
to see if it's dried out and fraying, he'll look for
corrosion in the service panel, and he'll look to see if
a previous owner did anything unsafe," Gallant says.
After that, he recommends getting a quick follow-up
inspection every five years.
Don't be alarmed if the inspection turns up code
violations. Each time the electrical code is revised,
old wiring is "grandfathered," on the assumption it
was installed correctly. Code only requires you to
update wiring in rooms being gut-renovated.
To help you assess the state of your own electrical
system, we've asked Gallant to identify the 10 most
common wiring problems he sees, the dangers they
pose, and his recommended solutions.
Remember: Anytime you work with wiring, be sure
to turn off the circuit at the main breaker panel.
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10 Wiring Problems Solved
Here are some common problems you might face, and their solutions.
BY JOSH GARSKOF, THIS OLD HOUSE MAGAZINE (PAGE 1 OF 13)
Home > Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical > Electrical > 10 Wiring Problems Solved
Il l ustrati on: Ian Warpol e
PROBLEM #1
Overlamping is when a light f ixture has a bulb with a higher
wattage than the f ixture is designed f or
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20/01/13 10 Wiring Problems Solved | Electrical | Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical | This Old House - 1
2/4 www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,562098,00.html
Chris | Tue 11/25/08 02:12 pm
Thanks for the great electrical article.?? It brought me up to date.
+ Reply
dk| Fri 4/13/12 11:27 am
One flaw in the article. With regard to old armour cable (BX) it is not allowed to used the metal sheath
as ground if it does not have the internal bonding strip ( conductor ).
+ Reply
Mark| Tue 12/9/08 08:03 am
It is not as easy as just replacing them with properly grounded circuits when you can not get to the
wiring. What then?
+ Reply
tmmackenzie@hotmail.com| Mon 2/23/09 01:16 am
We have an electrical problem, if someone can help. We have 2 black wires, a red wire, and 2 whites
wires coming out of the box in the wall. We wanted to replace the light fixture with a new one. The light
has a black, white and green wire. We know that the green grounds to the light fixture plate. Plus, that
the whites all go together. However, we are unsure of the blacks (from the box and the new fixture), and
the red. We looked online, and it said to attach the red wire from the box to the black wire of the fixture,
and attach the 2 black wires from the box together. We tried this and the light won't go on. So we
attached the black wires all together and left the red with a screw cap on it. This turns the light on, but
we are then unable to turn it off. Help. What should we do to solve this problem.
+ Reply
john| Fri 12/25/09 03:04 am
hire an electrician, very complicated at this point
+ Reply
jon| Sat 2/4/12 10:55 pm
...or grow a pair and learn how to fix it yourself.
+ Reply
fellow| Mon 2/8/10 03:40 am
Get a qualified person.
+ Reply
Carlos | Sun 5/2/10 03:24 pm
There probably was probably an AB Light Fixture connected to the wiring. The red wire is a separate
"hot" wire used to fire up one of the bulbs (for a dim lighting) and the black wires were for the other
two bulbs. More than likely, there isn't a switch at the other end of your black wires and they are
being branched off of receptacle.
+ Reply
Paul | Mon 7/5/10 03:51 pm
Sounds like you have the power coming to the light box and then running to the switch and back up.
Turn on the breaker for that circuit and identify which wire is hot. It should be one of the black ones.
Connect that hot wire to the red wire, which should run to the switch. The other black wire attaches to
your light fixture, which is connected to the load side of your switch.
+ Reply
dk| Fri 9/3/10 10:45 pm
If you look at the wall switch you will likely see a red and a black wire attached. In the ceiling box one
black wire is the constant power feed for the circuit. Likely the red wire would be attached to that
black constan power. The other balck would come from the switch and connect to the black of the
light fixture. Tip -- before you remove the old fixture mark the wires or make a diagram of what wires
were connected to where.
+ Reply
Jessica | Sun 3/15/09 02:48 pm
I have a outlet that runs half the house and burned out. I am trying to replace the outlet it is older wireing
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20/01/13 10 Wiring Problems Solved | Electrical | Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical | This Old House - 1
3/4 www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,562098,00.html
it has 3 black wires and 2 white wires and only 4 spots to plug them in at on th outlet.
+ Reply
Anonymous | Wed 3/3/10 10:43 pm
pig tail the wires by tying the wires together and have one wire come from white and one from black,
then replace on recep.
+ Reply
Stuart | Fri 3/20/09 03:23 pm
Our son managed to get his toenail into a broken outlet and grounded it out and it Popped the breaker,
we fixed the broken outlet and popped the breaker back on and now only a few outlets work and none of
our light fixtures and some outlets do not work now, All Breakers check out good can you offer a solution
+ Reply
hollis | Fri 1/22/10 09:34 pm
when u replaced the outlet there was probably a wire u left out or miss wired.and the rest of the stuff
is after that point in the circuit.
+ Reply
Darryl | Fri 7/2/10 07:15 pm
If you pig tail each outlet wiring you will eliminate the problems in the u stream circuits
+ Reply
Anonymous | Wed 3/3/10 10:44 pm
loose neutral on recpt.
+ Reply
Nate | Wed 6/9/10 06:35 pm
Ground is not propoerly secured.
+ Reply
dk| Fri 9/3/10 10:47 pm
has nothing to do with the ground not properly secured. Hot or neutral connection is poor or open.
+ Reply
Dave | Thu 2/24/11 10:56 am
how's his toe??
+ Reply
greg | Tue 4/7/09 03:14 pm
why when i hooked up my electric stove my lights are controlled by the knobs on the stove turn stove on
lights come on turn stove off lights go off
+ Reply
AJ | Sun 4/25/10 04:49 pm
Crappy stove - take it back & get different brand.
+ Reply
dk | Thu 4/19/12 10:15 pm
I've seen this when turning the oven on causing the lights to glow dim and go out when you turn the
oven off. if there are no other electrical issues throughout the house then I would say one of the two
hot wires is open ( red or black )
+ Reply
victor collier | Wed 7/15/09 08:46 am
when the ac kicks on the lights become very bright until it kicks off and then they go dim
+ Reply
Ike | Wed 3/31/10 09:04 pm
This is a Neutral problem, there is a loose or corroded neutral wire. Since this happens with nothing
else, I would check with the box supplying power to the A/C. The box supplying power outside to your
compressor is probably the problem.
+ Reply
dk| Fri 9/3/10 10:50 pm
I would have to agree with a " neutral " problem. You have an unbalanced circuit when the A/C is
on.
+ Reply
Jon| Sun 8/9/09 03:21 pm
I have knob and tube wiring. How can I test which wire is hot?
20/01/13 10 Wiring Problems Solved | Electrical | Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical | This Old House - 1
4/4 www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,562098,00.html
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+ Reply
Kevin| Sun 8/23/09 04:09 pm
@Jon--about the K&T--you should buy a voltage sniffer. This will show you which one is hot by touching
the outside wire casing with the sniffer. They are cheep and a handy tool to have around.
+ Reply
jarrod | Wed 10/21/09 02:01 am
Two-wire plastic-sheathed cable
+ Reply
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