Ok... I ran across this wire POORLY hooked to a light.

[Supervstech]

I have NEVER seen any wiring like this.
It looks like brown romex with2 conductors inside... but no jacket on the conductors... they appear coated in tar or something.
the conductors appear to be about 18 gauge copper, but they are STEEL that is copper plated.
The outer jacket has cotton threads in it.
I will post up pics in a second.

anyway, I got called to inspect the home for the buyer, to follow up the home inspection. Found several code violations, and crazy stuff... a 120V hot tub plugged into a 20Amp outlet right outside the tub! (At least it’s was hooked to a GFCI breaker... but it was wired wrong!) the outlet was installed in an indoor metal box stuffed inside a two gang bubble cover, but it wouldn’t close...ugh!
i also found light switches and A SUB PANEL INSTALLED ABOVE THE BATHTUB...
But the wire I found hooked to a back porch light, stuffed through the facia board, wire nutted to some ceiling fan wires... stuffed into another indoor metal box, with a porcelain Edison base light fixture...

if anybody knows what this wire is used for I’d love to know...

oh... the house was built in 1900...

 

[Supervstech]

...

 

[svetz]

Hard to tell from the photo, but my guess is it's wire from before plastics were invented. You can still buy it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-SCHOOL...-IDX10-WIRING-SHEATH-LOOM-COVER-/252386402295

 

[Steve_S]

Hard to tell from the photo, but my guess is it's wire from before plastics were invented. You can still buy it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-SCHOOL...-IDX10-WIRING-SHEATH-LOOM-COVER-/252386402295

That's my first take on that too. I saw this stuff YEARS AGO and of course ran across it during renovations of the old house too, the outer sleeves quite literally disintegrated when I messed with it, luckily a deep reno (down to the timbers and shell) so it all got pulled and replaced, right along with the older Knob & Tube that was there for the first electrical installation.

That's the problem with older houses, you never know what is lurking behind drywall / plaster & lath, let alone what previous owners & "contractors" may or may not have done and how well it was done. It really is a wonder that more houses don't burn down given what is out there.

 

[Supervstech]

Hard to tell from the photo, but my guess is it's wire from before plastics were invented. You can still buy it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-SCHOOL...-IDX10-WIRING-SHEATH-LOOM-COVER-/252386402295

Keep in mind, the outer jacket IS plastic...

What throws me is the conductor material... steel... maybe this is an old overhead tv wire?

 

[svetz]

Sorry... missed the conductor was steel. That is odd. Is it by chance steel clad copper? I've heard of that where wires need to provide high physical strength, but that was copper clad steel.

 

[Supervstech]

Sorry... missed the conductor was steel. That is odd. Is it by chance copper clad steel? I've heard of that where wires need to provide high physical strength.

Yes. Copper clad steel.

 

[svetz]

Yes. Copper clad steel.

Sorry, my bad for jumping to the photo and trying to figure it out rather than carefully reading the OP! See Copper-clad steel - Wikipedia

 

[Supervstech]

Sorry, my bad for jumping to the photo and trying to figure it out rather than carefully reading the OP! See Copper-clad steel - Wikipedia

Yup, I know all that, just never seen this type of jacketed wire... like I guessed, probably an old phone line, or antenna wire some genius decided to run to a light circuit...

 

[JoeHam]

Copper clad steel is the wire of choice for dipole antennas with only tree supports in three places, middle and two ends.

Copperweld is the most commonly used brand name. For the 75/80 meter band a dipole antenna is around 132 feet long. For 160m (1.8 kHz) it is about 264 feet long so the structural strength is essential.

 

[svetz]

..., probably an old phone line, or antenna wire some genius decided to run to a light circuit...

1900s... Is in the wild west? I mean why buy new when there's perfectly good wire stretched between the poles next to the train tracks? (What I want to know is, why did the Sioux Indians die after stealing wire and making bracelets out of them?)

There could be a really great story behind it. If the county seat hasn't burned down in the last 120 years (the wiring codes do seem a bit lax after all), probably less since you said there was some plastic in it, you might find out who owned it. It would be interesting if it was Tesla and you've run across the secret ingredient to wireless energy transfer.

 

[Supervstech]

1900s... Is in the wild west? I mean why buy new when there's perfectly good wire stretched between the poles next to the train tracks?

There could be a really great story behind it. If the county seat hasn't burned down in the last 120 years (the wiring codes do seem a bit lax after all), probably less since you said there was some plastic in it, you might find out who owned it. It would be interesting if it was Tesla and you've run across the secret ingredient to wireless energy transfer.

Ha... no, it was tied to a nail up box normal romex on one end, and extended through a hole with leftover ceiling fan wire on the other... my guess is it was in the yard, and they used it to add a porch light... I am soooo glad I noticed the thing... it was not on the inspection report.
I know there is knob and tube wiring on much of the house lighting, so I Replaced the lighting circuit breaker with an AFCI breaker... this young couple doesn’t need to be worrying about faulty wiring in their “new” home. I informed them to make CERTAIN the homeowner insurance company knows it is there, and protected with AFCI...
MUCH OF THE HOUSE WAS POORLY REMODLED BY A FLIPPER... romex not stapled, metal boxes ungrounded, etc... I fixed all that and installed AFCI breakers on all the newish circuits... installed some grounded circuits in key places for electronics in the house... they are pleased.

 

[Keith C]

I have seen wire that looked exactly like that and the copper even looked silver when scratched and was stiffer than expected but it wasn't steel. I suspect it was just un-annealed after the hardening of being drawn. Have you checked it with a magnet?

At place I worked at we had a shower. The subpanel is nicely recess mounted in the shower wall tile.... I was taking a shower there after riding my bike miles uphill to work. As I was nervously watching the subpanel and thinking it was a bad idea when some water splashed on the bare 100W bulb on the ceiling causing it to shatter. The glass rained down on me at the same time I was plunged into TOTAL pitch black darkness. At that point I was absolutely convinced that subpanel placement was a bad idea as was the uncovered light-bulb. I never showered there again.

 

[kringineering]

That looks like the wire that the telephone company uses to connect from a telephone pole to your house. Not made to carry much current but its very strong in tension.

 

[Supervstech]

That looks like the wire that the telephone company uses to connect from a telephone pole to your house. Not made to carry much current but its very strong in tension.

I agree, that is what I think it is also.

the tar insulation inside has zero protection once the outer jacket is opened to access the conductors... the tar just crumbles off... idiots wrapped electrical tape around all the stripped wire.
It worked, but DAAAAM... if someone had hooked a pair of 75watt outdoor spots or a 250Watt wall pack it would have burst into flame... good thing it only had a little CF, 13W bulb on it!

 

[Sky-HHI]

What you found is a Telephone drop wire ( the wire from the pole to the protector box on the outside of a house). It is copper clad steel wire, the steel was for strength and copper for voice. The outside has a cotton thread mixed with rubber around an inside insulation. It is from the 1940s thru 1970s. I worked 30 years for the Telephone company, starting in 1980 in Florida. We really hated this old wire because as the outside insulation failed, the cotton thread would absorb rain water and cause static on line (SOL) and rust the steel wire. I replaced miles of this old drop wire when I first started working for Southern Bell. Good catch Supervstech

 

[mapguy525]

Wiring in my 1959 Seattle area home is very similar but conductors are fully copper and soldered. Ground wire is only present on a few circuits.

 

[Supervstech]

Wiring in my 1959 Seattle area home is very similar but conductors are fully copper and soldered. Ground wire is only present on a few circuits.

Oh yeah, I see cloth copper wiring all the time.
Some has ground conductors, most dont, but the soldered splices are common.