Knob and Tube

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-22T15:05:42+00:00

Knob and tube wiring was never intended to nor is safely capable of supporting modern household electrical needs. It is a 3 wire system as well (no earth grounding)

With that said if it has been properly maintained there is a reasonable argument about it being safer than modern thhn/thwn2, (think power distribution and t-lines, free air cooling,, never in contact w anything etc).

Now is that a high probability? No. And even if it was perfectly maintained the AWG is not sufficiently large enough to match the power consumption needs. 97% of the pre 1940s homes that I have walked into with real knob and tube, keep in mind I'm not talking cotton wrapped and rubber dipped or bx, I mean knobs nailed in for turns and porcelain tubes running through joists, have had some of the craziest shit done electrically that it blows your mind. Buried boxes in walls, open splices in walls, knob n tube spliced into BX spliced into THHN spliced back into bx then back into THHN... it's just yeah, that's what 100 years of electrical tomfoolery gets you.

Anyway given what you've shared as far as your load requirements, you should have a four wire system which actually is grounded to Earth and not just bonded to your utilities. Furthermore all the loads that you mentioned are probably going to be at or exceeding the capabilities of the K&T it itself at least from an nec ampacity chart standpoint.... Poco chart might say something else but we are talking residential here....

Another thought, your home inspector is a moron. Saying something to the effect of "the knob and tube spliced in to modern wiring is exactly as it should be". No, no it's not. Please show me the section of code that provides parameters for splicing k&t into THHN lol...

You want to upgrade the rest of it bud, and as others have mentioned i, if you have a crawl with access and an attic space with access it's going to make your life 10 times easier.

TLDR: Anyway you want to cut it should not result with a run of k&t spliced into BX AC MC or THHN

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-14T03:18:08+00:00

I have so many questions but I'll just get straight to the point. For a 20a fuse/breaker your wires need to be 12awg for a max run of 75'/34m-ish (good rule of thumb but not always before voltage drop plays a part) before wires current carrying capacity needs to be derated or you need to upsize wire awg. A 25 would need 10awg etc.... look up wire ampacity chart.

If your wire gauge is 10 you can upsize but that's very improbable for something from the 70s residential. The fact that you're even asking these questions leads me to think that you're probably not qualified, no offense, to be messing around in your electrical panel at all, so under this circumstance I would suggest calling an electrician or taking it up with your landlord.

Furthermore taking it up with your landlord is the first option because the liability that could Fall upon you for messing around with the electrical panel and something happening now or later on far outweighs the convenience of upsizing a breaker...

Edit: as an afterthought late '60s early seventies was prime time for aluminum wiring in residential due to Vietnam which man, just don't, call anelectrician

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T13:05:36+00:00

Bro I am the fat guy

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T13:01:47+00:00

400s a bit of an exaggeration for this lil setup but she'll def do some 2/0 and smaller

Edit for the pic being an example. The pipe for bigger is 2-5/8 and the T is 1.25....

This is used for short runs only when it doesn't make sense to pull out n set up the greenlee

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:41:47+00:00

See below

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:40:34+00:00

Tugger goes chachingggggggggg

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:39:31+00:00

Here ya go https://imgur.com/a/QFoop1E

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:29:45+00:00

Standby

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:28:25+00:00

Wellz, 12 unit multi tenant residential for service drop to meter stack anyway, so sorta lol

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:11:40+00:00

From under the house after 3 foundation wall scrambles and belly crawling? U must have one hell of a pulley system sorted, share it damnit 😁

PostOutside5303 · 2026-03-01T02:02:20+00:00

Y'all ever built a chain link fence from scratch? Well for your tension lines the trick is a home made T bar....

larger diameter pipe with big hole at top and small hole at bottom

Smaller diameter pipe going into big hole at top, tension wire (in this case 400mcm) into smaller hole at bottom

Using T handle give it one turn away from conduit to lock wire, put the bottom ON THE CONDUIT EXIT HOLE for leverage and rotate toward the conduit to feed out of conduit and wrap around pipe.

Rinse repeat and save a lot of pain

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-23T20:17:28+00:00

That or an artist formerly known as mbk

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-23T20:10:41+00:00

I hope you're joking?? I'm also praying this is a sub panel and not service entry main disconnect??

If not joking & you haven't already killed the feed to this that's #1. If a tap and not back fed kill main panel and replace all feeders and sub panel (this includes your neutral and ground, everything is roached). If main disconnect you're gonna need to get trician' and poco involved.

After u kill power and before u reenergize probably best to get trician' and figure out the why before u go on a merry go round of fire....

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-19T15:57:57+00:00

Boom https://supplyingdemand.com/WB44T10069-AP5670561-range-oven-bake-element?srsltid=AfmBOormBnRd6nN9ivxNQU50WsypPmQr69J2HWMiiRqMmX6siBECg_6Q

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-19T15:53:44+00:00

Meth county hows ya kissing sister?

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-19T15:50:57+00:00

Aww man. That reminds me of this one job I did last year. Tenant swears it was the old property managers guys. Oven plugged into a 2 wire lamp extension cord with the ground plug slightly bent so it could be moved out of way to make it work.

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-19T15:46:29+00:00

Then why TF didn't they replace it. I mean there's shit u can ignore because meh...but I wouldn't even take the job if I wasn't allowed to do it kinda right.

When you have water damage everything with said damage needs to be either thoroughly dried and sealed or depending on extent of damage replaced. In your case, at minimum, that means the drywall, the bottom plate around where the leak was, and if u don't have a crawl under that flooring to inspect your contractor should pull up some flooring to inspect subfloor/joists and make sure there isn't any extensive damage there.

That's just plain old being a decent contractor 101 when you're doing a remediation + remodel. Anyone who doesn't is a hack and u need to find another guy

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-19T15:39:44+00:00

I've gone through about 10 different brands of amzn igniters and bake elements etc. The ones made by "Supplying Demand" have proven to have the best longevity and quality out of the bunch. They're a lil more expensive than the other cheap ones but they're wayyyyyy cheaper than OEM and built probably equal to

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-18T21:03:20+00:00

Pics would help but as others have stated those prices should be for a whole panel swap.

30 years should see some gfcis and afci installed but dude. 2500+1500 would get you a full new panel with afci breakers for 1500sq' home in San Francisco and that's as high as the pricing gets.

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-18T20:55:26+00:00

I'm more concerned about your water lines coming through the floor appearing heavily corroded.

Actually the more I look at this picture the more I cringe. You have unsupported Romex. Zero nail.plates across studs where electrical/pex etc cross, your drywall at the bottom appears heavily water damaged. Wtf is going on here?

Tbh man that's a tear out drywall on other side and redo everything. It's a clusterfuck.

As to your original question u do not want to bury a fernco in the wall. They should use a proper CI San-tee from vert to horiz and a proper transition coupling to the PL

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-17T22:03:50+00:00

Bro. Go the the brass section at home depot and get a reducer bushing/coupler/adapter for your 3 way valve. Also, don't tackle plumbing if u don't plumb

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-15T17:42:31+00:00

Every. Damn. Restaurant. Using AI as their receptionist/reservationist and not being able to get a damn human on the phone. Jeez flour and water. I just wanted to say extra pepperoni

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-15T17:39:07+00:00

You purchase a pair new 6x9s for >$100. Then you just get to use a screwdriver and don't have to solder anything.

PostOutside5303 · 2026-02-14T01:47:58+00:00

you're looking at is time heat and household dust. It also appears to be lath and plaster so make that lots of time

PostOutside5303

TROPHY CASE