K&T sign off??

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

tx2step

Senior Member
Location
North Texas, DFW area
Re: K&T sign off??

For a test load, how about building your own "Load Bank" using 150 watt lamps?

At 120V, each lamp will pull 1.25A. You could fine tune the load for voltage variances by using an ampmeter and a few smaller wattage lamps.

It might not be pretty, but it would be cheap and effective, and you could easily vary the load to whatever you want it to be.

Or you could start with a 1500W fixture (12.5A at 120V) and add a few more 150W lamps for additional loading up to 15A or 20A as desired.

Incan. lamps are just resistive loads - the same type of load that is used for generator load bank testing, just on a much smaller scale in this case.
 
T

tx2step

Senior Member
Location
North Texas, DFW area
Re: K&T sign off??

JJ - You sound like a guy I once worked for! ;)

I haven't done residential in a very long time, but I don't remember any of the K&T wire being 12 Ga. I remember it as being more like 14 Ga. or maybe even 16 Ga. solid, and medium drawn -- it was pretty stiff stuff. What size wire are you guys dealing with?

I wonder what its amp rating was when it was installed? I doubt that it had a temp. rating.

I also remember it being fairly common to switch the neutral instead of the hot for lights, and that the neutral might run from one direction and the hot come from some other direction. They weren't always run together. I wonder how often a neutral was overloaded?

In fact, I remember an old K&T knife blade type fused panel where all of the branch neutrals were also fused. Each branch was a "double" (hot and neutral) knife with a wood handle across them and both the hot and neutral were fused. This was like a 10 circuit panel, so there were 10 double knife switches and a total of 20 fuses, plus the mains were a 3-blade knife and also fused, including the neutral. All of the bussing was exposed polished brass -- it was beautiful.

I'd be afraid to go above 15A protection on any of it.

[ March 28, 2005, 07:59 PM: Message edited by: tx2step ]
 
H

hurk27

Senior Member
Location
Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
Re: K&T sign off??

I made mine out of an old battery charger housing one that you would find in a auto garage. It had a nice fan and already had a couple ceramic spools in it, and I added several more to adjust from 5 amps to 150 amps in steps that was changed by adding jumpers to welding jacks I installed in the top of the cabinet. I use nichrome wire that was left over from my radio days and the welding jacks were left over from a job at a steel fab shop I wired. I even used the amp meter in it as it did read up to 400 amps, I just removed the shunt and built a circuit to drive it off a current coil and calibrated it off my amp probe. Accuracy wasn't a problem as the loading coils were pre figured. But when it was hooked to a 100 amp service it put out the heat. It was great for finding bad neutrals and other things. Until I left it behind the van and backed over it. :eek:
And No it wasn't UL listed. :roll:
 
B

bigjohn67

Senior Member
Re: K&T sign off??

Anyone know what the rating (amps) of a soildered Western Union splice is?

These types of taps were not made to withstand todays modern appliances: Refrig. Microwave, window AC.
 
iwire

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Re: K&T sign off??

Originally posted by bigjohn67:
Anyone know what the rating (amps) of a soildered Western Union splice is?

These types of taps were not made to withstand todays modern appliances: Refrig. Microwave, window AC.
Click to expand...
I would say that it is able to handle as much as the conductors it is connecting.
 
jjhoward

jjhoward

Senior Member
Location
Northern NJ
Occupation
Owner TJ Electric
Re: K&T sign off??

Yes tx, those fuse panels are a work of art. All the K&T that I have touched here in NJ has been 12 awg. I agree, I would never go over 15 amps on that stuff. The problem with this stuff is being able to see it all. I have crawled through many attics to check out the insulation and the splices. Usually what I can see is OK. The insulation is still intack and the splices (if any) are mechanically sound and covered. Its the runs that I can't see that make assessing K&T tough. I have read that insurance stats don't show K&T wiring a serious fire starter. So, this hub-bub of insurance co's declining home owners becaus of K&T is dumb. When in doubt..re-wire those houses. Fishing wires through plaster/lath walls is such fun :p
 
E

englishelec

Member
Re: K&T sign off??

just a quick one here is the web site for the national inspection council for electrical instalation contracting NICEIC here in the UK, http://www.niceic.org.uk/
are there any similar websites to look at for the United States any help would be appreciated. i will have to start off as an apprentice when i arrive so if anyone can help with any info as to how this process of attaining a journeymans card can be accelerated we would be very gratefull. ps been an electrician in the UK for 19 years. i have done the online tests on the NEC on this site and after i picked up the difference in terminology ie US hot UK live and went over them a couple of times i eventually got 100%
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top