How old must my wiring be ?

[ecchi]

I live in a flat that is part of an old house that was converted long ago (and when I say old house, my landlord is about 80, and he inherited it from his grandfather). One advantage/problem is that it has nice high ceilings. When a bulb blows I can only just reach it to change it, standing on the tallest chair I own. So my knowledge of the thing the bulb goes into (rose?) is limited to what I can feel with my fingertips when at full stretch.

Today the bulb blew (I assumed) so I got up on a chair to change it. My spare bulb refused to work (see I'm prepared, I got a spare bulb, all ready), so I swore and went out to buy another one. When I took the spare out to replace it with the third bulb, the real reason the light would not work announced itself by the insides of the thing the bulb goes into falling to pieces and dropping to the floor. Once I had got my emergency light set up (told you I was prepared, I've even got an emergency light) I picked up the pieces and found that they were made of Bakelite !!!!

Now I am wondering how old the wiring must be if the electrical fittings are still made of Bakelite? Probably not been changed since the lighting was converted from gas. |shocking|

I must check that my fire insurance is up to date.
|hotjump|

[RobUK]

The Bakelite Corporation was founded in 1910, apparently, and became popular for household fittings in the 1930s and 40s. As the site I got that from appears to be American, you can be we were a good few years behind the times - I'd guess the fitting was put up around 1950. In which case, it's time your place was rewired. In fact, it should have been rewired 30 years ago, and again about 10 years ago, if memory serves. I'd be looking at smoke alarms, lots of flashlights and a fire extinguisher!

Rob.

[ecchi]

So if you never here from me again it is because I am doing a good impersonation of crispy fried duck.

[emmanuelle]

I once lived in a place that was built in 1892. While I loved the 14 foot ceilings and orginal fixtures & mouldings; I can't say that I slept well at night due to the 1950's wiring, and the fuse box being 3 inches from the kitchen sink!

[Useless]

It's most likely knob & tube wiring in a home of that age. Unless a new code was drafted demanding its replacement, that old wiring would have been left in place. If it is knob & tube, your outlets shoud have only two holes for the hot and neutral blades of a plug and not the roundish third hole for the earth ground. Knob and tube wiring doesn't have an earth ground. If you do have modern receptacles, chance are that someone updated them so you could plug in heavy modern vacuums and lead cords that require an earth ground. Of course, that doesn't mean an earth ground is present. It just means that the they connected the hot wire to the black side, the neutral to the white side (the taller of the two blades) and left the little green screw empty. What does this mean for you? It means that the surge protector you have your computer plugged in to probably isn't going to do dick to protect anything.

Now that you are worried, here's the plus side; homes with knob and tube wiring often have lower electricity bills and fewer fires are caused by knob & tube than modern Romex wiring.

I used to drive a delivery van for a commercial electrical contractor. I am not an electrician.

[Jim]

When my monther bought this house, it had all the old knob and tube wiring. The first thing she did was replace it. Good thing she did, we now have 7 appliances running on 220 volts. With 2 more on the way

[Useless]

Yeah, I think knob and tube is rated for 60 volts or something ridiculous like that. That's not enought to run Jim's surveillance/voyeur cams.

[ecchi]

I am in the UK, we have had 240V fully earthed electricity since well before I was born. I am told we had earthing as standard long before America, and that it has been compulsory over here before it was even common in America. So at least on that front I am safe.