Option for 220v

In 1994 or so I decided to move our computer up to my bedroom. I knew that there were no grounded outlets upstairs, but assumed I just had to replace a couple of outlets, grounding them to the boxes. NOPE. There were no ground wires anywhere, and the wiring was nightmarish, with exposed copper in one spot. So bad that that triggered a major rewiring project that took me most of a year, but still only replaced about 70% of the wiring. I hate old houses...

LeftieBiker said:

In 1994 or so I decided to move our computer up to my bedroom. I knew that there were no grounded outlets upstairs, but assumed I just had to replace a couple of outlets, grounding them to the boxes. NOPE. There were no ground wires anywhere, and the wiring was nightmarish, with exposed copper in one spot. So bad that that triggered a major rewiring project that took me most of a year, but still only replaced about 70% of the wiring. I hate old houses...

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Have you checked the plumbing lately? Just sayin....

Not to get too far off topic for the OP, but I just couldn't be done with moving into an old house without it being a complete tear-down or a down-to-the-studs renovation. I just couldn't.

theothertom said:

LeftieBiker said:

In 1994 or so I decided to move our computer up to my bedroom. I knew that there were no grounded outlets upstairs, but assumed I just had to replace a couple of outlets, grounding them to the boxes. NOPE. There were no ground wires anywhere, and the wiring was nightmarish, with exposed copper in one spot. So bad that that triggered a major rewiring project that took me most of a year, but still only replaced about 70% of the wiring. I hate old houses...

Click to expand...

Have you checked the plumbing lately? Just sayin....

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The plumbing always lets me know when it needs work. The big plumbing jobs we contract out. BTW, this house was sold to us fraudulently. Both the real estate agent and the owners told us it had a septic tank, and even pointed to a pipe marker in the yard. NOPE. Just a cesspool emptying into the Hudson river. $5500 and a torn up yard later, we had a great state of the art septic system. Less than10 years later we were ordered to fill in the tank and switch to the new sewer system.

mwalsh said:

Edit: Surprised to see how common it is to still see this type of system in use, and the fuses so readily available. I found one YouTube video that said these went out of code in like 1928. I can't imagine how they've managed to stay in use for so long.

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Not sure that's true. The house I grew up in had a fuse box, and it was 1950's construction.

Nubo said:

mwalsh said:

Edit: Surprised to see how common it is to still see this type of system in use, and the fuses so readily available. I found one YouTube video that said these went out of code in like 1928. I can't imagine how they've managed to stay in use for so long.

Click to expand...

Not sure that's true. The house I grew up in had a fuse box, and it was 1950's construction.

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I think it was the old knob and tube wiring that 'went out of code' early. Fuse boxes with cable were still being installed at least through the Fifties.