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the house wire i found it didnt have a plastic coating like the new ones. is the black coating on the insulation asbestos? its on the outer most part i cut it with utility knife and it wasn't on the inside insulation but the wire part when i stripped it wasn't shiny like the white plastic stuff why is that?
That doesn't sound like house wire but more like the old heavy cord wire. As far as it being asbestos, it could be but most the time it's cotton.
Is the wire itself have a rubber like insulation on it? I bet it does.
Not likely asbestos, and should be older house wire. Most of the wire we buy like that is a tar, rubber based cloth covering. As for not being shiny most of this wire is tin coated.
I think I know what you are talking about. Is it one solid core a little less than a 1/4 inch thick? If so it is old overhead wire.
You can remove the "tar" type substance by taking a hammer to it. Put your wire on an anvil, or the flat portion of a vice and just whack it and it will split the insulation. Couple inches at a time.
You can do this on a cement floor also, but that's hard on an old man's back. I'd rather stand or sit on a stool and do the whacking.
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...pszqvaepcc.jpg
Then rub it on the edge of the flat parts of the vice to remove any sticky residue.
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...psawyl5isx.jpg
yes its kinda like that but the black part was on the outside like this and the wire isn't covered in tar but its like a rubbery stuff just how old is this stuff and do they still use it today? and thanx very much.
http://0.tqn.com/w/experts/Electrica...-ceiling_1.jpg
What brass buster said.Quote:
Originally Posted by brassbuster
No, it's not in use anymore.
What year was the house built? My rental house was built in the 1940s and used to have that wire, with the old fuse boxes with the round fuses. If you ran out of fuses you stuck a penny in the fuse socket. Lol
It's going to be #2 copper once you get it all stripped. There is no easy way to strip that stuff.
That is debatable since it is solid core, how clean it is would be the deciding factor.Quote:
Originally Posted by pjost
Unless it is in fact tin coated.
um not sure when it was built but my uncle rewired the house and he had some of the white romex i think its called wire nutted onto that old wire is it safe to take it out and just wire nut the two romexes together or will it mess up something that gets power from it? i mean we have a breaker box and i see none of that wire going into it its all new stuff but sone of the wires have to old stuff attached to it. i forgot to add that i also incountered another wire like the one i described but this one had two wires in it with the same casing and it was plastic but the wire had some kind of green oil stuff when i stripped it and it looked to be maybe 12 or 14 gauge wire not sure it went like this outer black casing then paper wraped around the wire casing and then green oil stuff it smelled likee oil maybe to reduce the heat or act as a isulator not sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by mike1
I'm curious what this wire was used for too, I work in a building that was built in 1922 and I find a lot of this type of wire in the ceilings and walls, it's a pain to strip and I'm unsure how safe the insulation is to handle so I just sell it as is, my yard takes it as 50% insulated wire .