electrical discoveries in my house

[jsmall]

ooh, can I ever contribute to this category! Let me describe the electrical setup in my house when I bought it (~ 2 years ago now). At home inspection nothing out of the ordinary was noticed, even though none of the outlets had ground (old 2 wire romex) and inspectors had picked up on this in the past, for other homes I was bidding on. I saw that there was a modern panel with breakers not fuses and *assumed* electrical was adequate. Inspector did say that service entrance cable needed replacing.

Realized after moving in, while removing outlet box covers to paint, that there was no ground. Much worse - found aluminum wire spliced directly to copper in several boxes. Not even with a wire nut mind you, just wrapped with electrical tape. Ugh. Worst was in basement rec room, where aluminum had gotten hot enough to melt insulation around a couple of the ceiling fixtures. It's a mystery to me how this place didn't burn down! Also, here's a list of what was on the circuit where I found the aluminum:

upstairs: bath, small bedroom, living room, hall (all lights and all outlets)
attic lighting
basement: rec room and bathroom (all lights and all outlets)

A wee bit overloaded perhaps?? :mad:

So far this is what I have done: had service entrance cable replaced and upgraded panel to 200 amp (believe it was 100 amp before, may have been 60). I did not do this myself, I'm not that brave. Then I ran seperate circuits for upstairs bath, upstairs bedroom, attic and hall lighting (added attic fan on that), and rec room. Removed all aluminum and replaced with copper. Living room remains on old ungrounded romex which I plan to replace. Downstairs bath is unpowered (actually gutted) right now, still needs its own circuit run.

I still have a badly overloaded circuit in my kitchen - basically one 15 amp circuit feeding fridge, microwave, and counter appliances. I'll fix this in due time. Breaker has only tripped a couple times in 2 years, which amazes me.

What kills me is that they just tapped in anywhere, without consideration of what was already on the circuit. So there were some terribly overloaded circuits, yet in the master bedroom there is one 15 amp circuit that runs to a single receptacle and nothing else.

At least I have not found any junction boxes hidden in walls! :rolleyes:

My next house I will look things over much more carefully.

[bfairways]

Can you give me info on how you did the re-wiring?? Did you have to cut holes in walls to run new wire? I have aluminum in part of my house and would like to learn how to run new wire with minimal disruption to walls and ceilings. I have done wiring before in a new house without walls and ceilings to contend with, but have not found good info on how to re-wire. I'm sure the pros have techniques and tools to do it.

Thanks,

Biill

[Wgoodrich]

This is post is a prime example why you should hire a proven qualified per national testing and reputation combined home inspector HIRED BY YOU not the realtor, seller or banker. That home inspector should be looking out for your interest. Best way to do that is hire you own inspector loyal to you.

You may think you know what to look for but unless you have been on the job for 30 or more years and / or have taken formal schooling on the subject of home inspection you are sure to miss much that is important in one of the most important activities of you life [buying your home whether first time or last time] Money well spent to protect you and inform you of what you are buying. The inspector then is liable for what he or she misses.

Read a lot of the past posts on this archive just to prove to you the value of what I said above. Some post in the archives are horror stories in their own right. Many are learning and have learned from this forum. Just wish we could have helped many before they made mistakes. That is why we are here free to anyone.

Good Luck and Learn

Wg

[jsmall]

bfairways, depending upon where your aluminum wire is you may or may not have major disruption to your walls and ceilings. In my case, the aluminum wiring was added on when basement was finished. I had to tear out the basement ceiling and paneling to replace it, which honestly I had planned to do anyhow. Drywall is relatively easy to patch. A fire is not so easily overcome. Wait for others who know more than I do (just an "adventurous" homeowner) but from personal experience I would get rid of the aluminum as soon as you can. Just my opinion.

And thanks for your reply WG. My home inspector was remiss. Many more things than the electrical that he did not pick up on. I think it pays to be informed, which I will be next time around!!!! I have learned a lot from this forum and will know a lot more things to look for when I decide to move on.