Do you know how to tell if knob and tube wire is live or not?
If you live in an older model of a house, you may have seen wire circuits that are connected into rounded circular pieces, these are what you call the knob and tube wirings.
This type of wiring is popular in older types of homes, especially those built in the 1900’s up to the early years of the 1950’s. Although it isn’t already used in new houses, other old house models still keep on using this type of wiring.
As what we may have known, older wirings can become quite dangerous and become prone to fire accidents.
A Safe Electrical Wiring In Your House
There might be knob and tube wiring portions in your house that may not have been used for quite some time already. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s not a live wire at all. Also, remember that these types of wiring only consist of two strands of wires: the hot and the neutral wires. There is no ground wire.
Thus, it may put you to danger holding the wire and not knowing whether it is live or not. That is why it is important to first test ad inspect older electric wires before doing anything else with them.
For a safe electrical wiring in your house, identify first whether the wires in your wall fixture still does induct electricity or not. Here are two things that you can do on how to tell if knob and tube wire is live:
How To Tell if Knob And Tube Wire Is Live
1. Test with a Voltage Stick
If you have some technical knowledge of wires and electricity, you can do the testing yourself with a voltage stick. Insert the probes into the knob and tube fixture and test using the alternating current or AC setting of the multimeter.
If the result is within 110 to 120 vols, it means that the wire is live. On the other hand, if the reading is zero, then it may have no connection to the circuit breaker or may have a loose connection.
2. Hire a Professional
For a safer testing and making sure that you don’t hold a live wire, test and inspect older electric wires by hiring a professional electrician. In this way, the electrician doesn’t only help you identify whether it is live or not.
Moreover, they can help you inspect the other parts of the wiring. The knob and tube removal professional can then help you with the needed electrical services. Through them, you can fix, remove, or replace the wires for a better, more efficient, and safer line connection.
Test And Inspect Older Electric Wires Carefully
Ensuring a safe electrical wiring in your house is essential not only to keeping your electric consumption efficient. More[ importantly, it ensures safety from any accidents due to faulty wiring.
Before holding any wirings of your old knob and tube connection, identify first if it is live or not with either of these two options.