[R-390] RE:

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 21:44:24 -0500

It's called "armored cable", OR, if you just want the outside, 
Greenfield conduit. Leastways I have been calling it that these many 
years,  BX went through some changes. First it was the form described by 
Joe, with the Paper insulation/filler. It went through some permutations 
of cloth, and other stuff before it wound up with the THHN. The original 
"Ground" was the jacket. Then, it was a miniscule (20 or more ga) 
aluminum wire, or a tinned copper wire. None of these "bonds" were 
terminated at the main junction box, they usually were (as were the 
original romex grounds) wrapped around the metal jacket and stuffed into 
the fitting, or like romex of the time, doubled back over and grounded 
to the clamp screw.
Of course, the panel itself morphed, from no ground other than the 
service neutral, to a water pipe bond, to having the neutral and bonds 
on the same bus bar, to (now) having the grounding bonds on a separate 
bus bar.  There was, in the late '70's a weird period that I would just 
as soon forget,  when some codes wanted you to bring all the bonds back 
out of the panel, (yes, it was ok to bend romex bonds back over, and bx 
bonds the same way,  wind them together, and terminate them all in 
either a bug, to a ground cable, leading to the rods, or a huge lug. It 
was really unsafe, as there was no way that one could guarantee that 
they all were, indeed, grounded, or any way to service this mess easily. 
I was glad to see that go away, but there are still  huge amounts of 
trash wiring out there.

    Now, I did my whole basement in conduit. It looks neat, protects 
forever, and is easily serviced. Besides, my shack is there, and I have 
a 60A load center feeding that separately, which can be shut off, of 
course, by a safety switch outside the shack, or with a breaker at the 
main panel.
73 de Greg WA3IVX

Joe Foley wrote:

>Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys!
>
>What we have here is a failure,......... oops!
>
>Um, what I mean is:  BX is an old term, its NOT used
>anymore.  It WAS two conductors with PAPER
>insulation/filler inside of a "corrugated" metal
>jacket.
>
>What REPLACED it and has taken on the same
>name/identifier is, the PROPER name escapes me now
>because I've gotten inthe habit of calling it BX, TOO!
>
>It is three THHN insulated wires, hot, neutral, and
>GROUND inside the same type of metal jacket.  This is
>a much better product.  Be sure to use the little red
>anti-short bushings that come with it.
>
>It can also be bought with two hot wires, one black,
>one red for three-way switches, two circuits sharing
>the same neutral, or 240 volt applications.
>
>Hire an EXPERIENCED electrician!  Understand: New York
>State has NO requirement for licensing electricians,
>if you don't believe me call the Governor's
>office,........ hehehehehe
>
>Can you say BIG BEEHIVE??????
>
>Joe
>
>
>--- Jim Brannigan <[email protected]> wrote:
>  
>
>>As I understand it, BX is required under the NYC
>>code in order to prevent
>>rats from eating the insulation and causing fires.
>>
>>In Nassau County (Long Island) BX is not required in
>>residential
>>installations,  PVC is allowed and is rapidly
>>replacing conduit.
>>
>>Jim
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>How old are you? BX caused fires back in the
>>>>        
>>>>
>>1960s and 1970s.
>>    
>>
>>>>Well documented.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Ken Gordon W7EKB
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>
>>>My question ken is that if fires caused by BX are
>>>      
>>>
>>well documented
>>    
>>
>>>then why are so many commercial buildings required
>>>      
>>>
>>to use it?
>>    
>>
>>>Why do whole citys require it?
>>>Was it an installation problem that caused the
>>>      
>>>
>>fires?
>>    
>>
>>>What was the mechanism by which the fires were
>>>      
>>>
>>caused?
>>    
>>
>>>What is different now that it does not cause
>>>      
>>>
>>fires?
>>    
>>
>>>Just trying to learn,
>>>Scott
>>>
>>>
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>>>      
>>>
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>>    
>>
>
>
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