Non fj electrical puzzle

[rktmanfj]

That pic came to me yesterday from a friend of a former girlfriend... her landlord did that in the place she rents.

She wanted to know if it might a fire hazard.       

[pdxfj]

Woah.. that's a lot of spray foam..

Here's what was in my house until just last December.  Circa 1946, 60A electrical service..

[rktmanfj]

Man, plenty of 'knob and tube' to go with that, no doubt...

[pdxfj]

Nah.. no "knob & tube".. mostly 12awg, cloth wrapped 2 conductor copper.. no ground..

War time materials.. super soft copper that cuts like butter.. cloth wrapping falls apart in your hands if you mess with it..

I'm slowly rewiring the whole house and breaking things up by room.  No uncommon to pull old wire out, and strip parts to discover evidence of the wire had been acting like a heating element.  Amazed the house never burned down.

With some scrap places around here paying almost $4/lb for copper, I'm saving everything I pull out.  I've got about 15lbs of copper wire from what was run between the old meter base and fuse panel...not counting what I've pulled out of the walls so far..

[rktmanfj]

Man, my old place (1920) had that same wire, but it was all done in K & T.

It was really a trip to figure out some of the runs... here, there, everywhere.     

[flips]

Hi Andy.

This maybe a silly suggestion but might be worth a try,the old stethoscope method,or pipe in the ear.Try elimination of as much background noise in the house as possible (ie turn everything off) and maybe try it at a quiet time.Hold a piece of flexible pipe to your ear and press the other end against the light fittings/switches/fusebox etc when your lights are flickering.You might just be able to hear the arcing.It will be very feint but might help localise the problem.I have had success with this method in the past.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Jeff P