At least I don't have knob and tube wiring, and I hope no one else does anymore.

When I did electrical work with a licensed master electrician, we did both new and remodel work.
We had at least 2 remodel jobs while I was working for him that we found knob and tube wiring in the attic.
And it was LIVE!!! Talk about scary stuff. Most of the insulation was gone or just hanging from the wires.

Indeed, I owned one house that had that stuff, definitely scary.

That's #4 CU (copper) with jute/tar wrap in the photo. Believe it or not, knob & tube was about four times over built with over sized wire and insulators compared to todays standards.

---

...

While we're on the subject of power, I just took a picture of my connections:

Grounding pole


Electricity usage meter


Whole house generator, installed 2010


Circuit breaker box in basement, installed 1997, and home generator automatic switch box.

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Last time I saw a grounding pole like that was when I was in the Signal Corps 1978 setting up a communication center in some forest somewhere:)
But seriously, do you need to do that to every house in the US?

Last time I saw a grounding pole like that was when I was in the Signal Corps 1978 setting up a communication center in some forest somewhere:)
But seriously, do you need to do that to every house in the US?

Yes.
I had one at the service box, my pool pump room, garage, and gate control. Basically everywhere there was a breaker box, you need to ground it.

---

Basically everywhere there was a breaker box, you need to ground it.

Of course.
But I have not seen any ground poles like that around houses here were I live.
I guess they are in the basement.

Vic - glad you got there and back safely despite the traffic.

Leaving a bit earlier is always a good idea - I was sent a bit of video of the i405 near where I used to live. All I can say is "I'm glad I don't live near that any longer".

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

That explains this kind of auto fuse. Wire on the outside.

I had to fix one during a camping trip and just used an aluminium gum wrapper between the poles.

That explains this kind of auto fuse. Wire on the outside.

I had to fix one during a camping trip and just used an aluminium gum wrapper between the poles.

Having had several cars in the 70s with that type of fuse I will state those are horrible.

---

What that sort of simple tester won't tell you is the state of the wiring and installation. Those things are great for checking that things are connected to the corret terminals but of no use at detecting highrer than normal point to point impedances caused by loose incorectly tightened terminals, damaged conductors, failing insulation and all the other invisible faults that electricians should look for when checking an installation prior to undertaking any modification work.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Hidden faults.
Those that do not show up are the ones to worry about. Everything can appear to be ok until they reveal themselves. Your place is old, has been moved at least once in its life, has a broken breaker, a breaker board that needs some remidial work doing on it.
So get get system properly inspected before doing anything else. None of us want to hear that your place has burnt down due to a wiring fault.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I really do hope there are no faults. But hope just isn't good enough when it comes to electrical safety. Especially for those living on our own....

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Any ideas of how much it will cost to proof every circuit in a home before any new work is done? Any idea of what that would entails?

Not cost effective unless chasing a problem.

---

...

Gorilla Super Glue

I've never had good results with that. I prefer JB Weld.

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Marching to the beat of a different drum.

To do things in one's own way regardless of societal norms and conventional expectations.

---

...

The wiring in My factory built house is fine, if there was a problem, it would have shown up around the outlets, like in a stick built place, where a small fire did happen at one time before the problem was fixed, before I owned the place.

So that is why you need a 50' extension cord to run your TV? Your little test gadget wont tell you if you have pinched wire that is tripping a breaker.
You are lying to your self if you think your home is safe electric wise.

---

[/quote]

Old James

Before this becomes another thread that needs the moderators intervention.

Let's just realise that Vic does as he wants there is little or no use keep on finding fault.

Make your point, if Vic chooses to ignore it please move on.

Thank you for understanding.

@ everyone - I would also like to know what the UCB policy is on this sort of situation. Are they happy with people being provided a protective cocoon to shield them from real life, to the extent that they are left to live in an insensible manner, even dangerously? I'll look further into it.

So you believe that what you say here will change someone's opinion who lives several thousand miles away.

This is the Internet and unfortunately you cannot always know if what you read here is truth or not.

No one can force anyone to take advice that is offered. Certainly in the US individual freedom is held a lot higher than in the UK. So forcing anyone to take advice, good or bad will not happen.

As everyone here has a right to their own opinions unless rules are broken they can have their say, disagree by all means, but if someone says they are ignoring you, perhaps it is time to move on.

The only real way to stop this is to close down the cafe and just leave the technical threads.

How many would be in favour of this rather than just filtering people out.

Just my two cents,.

Please note this is a personal view not a moderator and not necessarily shared by Seti@Home

This has gone beyond a local issue with one person, this impinges on University policy.

Please point to the policy that is effected.

---

...

You could go work there

Mr Mercer asks a very sencible question.
The answer depends on a number of things. Obviously the number of circuits, number of fixed fittings, age of installation. Then there is the visual condition of the installation.
Using a decent installation tester and assuming a good visual inspection a place like Vic's would take me a couple of hours or so. But if problems are found that estimate goes up rapidly.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?