[Elecraft] Much OT - No "practical" solution

Sun Nov 25 19:47:06 EST 2007

This is from the web site quoted-  This is how how a house I used to own
was wired for the few (at the time) obligatory three-prong sockets.
I was told by the house inspector that this did meet code.

Drilling into the stud space from above or below (crawl space or
attic) does work.  I've rewired 3/4 of my current 100+ year old house
that way in the past ten years.  I had gas piping for lighting, knob
and tube, lead-covered two conductor, BX, conduit, and both two and
three wire Nomex (as well as a couple of runs of lamp cord) when I
started.  I've now got two runs of BX, a fair amount of conduit and
the rest is three (or 4) wire Nomex.  And it's all up to code for the
time it was done.

>What my plan is, is to run the conductor through the crawl space and
>drill into the stud space from below running the ground wire as one
>would run a new piece of romex. I beleive that this would be more cost
>effective than replacing the entire wiring system in the house and
>still meet the requirements of code. It would definitely be safer than
>leaving the house as it is. The house was wired in 1958 and must have
>been done by some one that wanted plenty of power as there are many
>more outlets on the walls than current code requires including the
>kitchen counter. I have not yet delved into the distribution of the
>circuits but the house has the original fused 200 amp distribution
>panel.

73, doug

   From: Dan KB6NU <kb6nu at w8pgw.org>
   Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:17:32 -0500

   I did some Google searching and came up with the following:

   http://www.iccsafe.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi? 
   ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001341

   I think it's going to be a pain no matter what you do, but running  
   the ground wire exterior to the building doesn't seem like a great  
   idea to me.

   73!

   Dan KB6NU
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   CW Geek and MI Affiliated Club Coordinator
   Read my ham radio blog at http://www.kb6nu.com
   LET'S GET MORE KIDS INTO HAM RADIO!

   On Nov 25, 2007, at Nov 25, 3:20 PM, Ken Kopp wrote:
   > My older home .... built in 1962 by an individual for himself ...  
   > has only 2-wire Romex.  At least it's not
   > single conductor "knob-and-tube wiring.  Nothing in the  
   > house ...water pump, water heater, forced-air heat blower, etc. is  
   > "three-wire". (;-(
   >
   > It's a 2-story structure and it's virtually impossible to rewire to  
   > meet present-day electrical codes without tearing off the interior  
   > wallboard and starting over.
   >
   > The only way I can see to fix the problem would be
   > to drill completely through the wall to the outside at every outlet  
   > and add the "green wire" on the outside of the building and return  
   > the resulting "buss" to the entrance panel's ground.  A decidedly  
   > "ugly" solution,
   > even if painted to match the exterior color and doesn't
   > solve the issue of outlets on interior walls.  I -have-
   > replaced all outlets with "3-wire" types to avoid the usual cut-off- 
   > the ground-pin from household appliance
   > plugs, but there's nothing connected to the round holes. (;-)
   >
   > Cutting groves in the wall board from each outlet down to the floor  
   > and hiding the ground buss under the kick-
   > board is possible but again, "ugly".  The walls have been painted  
   > of course and the kick-boards are stuck to the wall by paint.   
   > Removing the kick-boards would damage the wallboard and still  
   > require its replacement.
   >
   > There seems to be no realistic solution ...
   >
   > I built my shack, garage and shop onto the house and they -DO- meet  
   > all codes.  There is a dediacated breaker panel feeding this  
   > addition and there are 17 ground rods on 2 acres, all bonded  
   > together with #10 CU buss wire and tied to the RF and AC entrance  
   > ground.  Two-inch
   > CU strap runs inder the wall into the shack and along
   > the back of the desk with 1/4" brass bolts with wing-nuts
   > for each piece of equipment.
   >
   > I'm retired from an electric utility.
   >
   > 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
   > k0pp at arrl.net
   > or
   > k0pp at acninc.net

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