How Dangerous IS this?

[RWebb]

I pulled off the baseboard to do some plastering, painting & put up some nice baseboard and...

WTF??




Obviously, this is not to code, but how dangerous is it? I'd like to reassemble this room (home office) and get on to fixing the leaking shift rod seal in the car, or wiring the stereo in the Vanagon, or...

The cable, which looks to be Romex runs behind the baseboard along this wall about 9 feet to near an outlet and in in the wall elec. heater. I don't know if feeds to or from one, both or neither one of those 2 items -- it just dives into an old patch in the wall about 8" away. I guess I now know why there was a poorly done, ugly patch in the wall right there...

So, let me know what you think.

This sits on top of a concrete stem wall, but if I can't access it from below, I can always tear the wall apart - if I HAVE to...

[RWebb]

oh yeh - ignore the coathanger on the right - it is there to mark where I can feed CAT-6 cable up from the bottom room (good thing I didn't drill right into the electrical cable when doing that)

BTW - I tested the cable and it did not seem to be hot - tho I don't really trust those little $8 beepers...

[Racerbvd]

Old homes, gotta love em

One line looks kinda like a phone line..

[RWebb]

yes, that one of the 2 phone lines to the right of the coat hanger

the black, white & copper ground are to the left of the coathanger; the yellow is a wire nut

- house isn't really "old" in my book - built in 1963 "modern style" -- I'd rather have a Victorian, but this one was cheap, in the right place and had room for my car

carpet ignites pretty easily...

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by RWebb

- if I HAVE to...

I'd say you have to

[GWN7]

I'm wondering if there was a baseboard heater and it was removed (replaced with the in the wall heater) and someone just added a little wire to make the new location work.

How safe is it? No junction box. Wires not protected or installed at the right height. Wire may be too small for the run to the new heater. Is heater properly grounded?

Perfectly safe till something happens and then your insurance company cancels your claim.

Hire electrician, pull permit, open wall, rewire properly, have inspected, close wall (new drywall), paint and forget about it.

Or use glue to put new baseboards on and remember to never drive a nail into that wall. Cross fingers.

[aigel]

Explore. If it goes some place, rewire according to code. If it goes nowhere, remove.

This will teach you about remodeling. Should have sat on the sofa with a beer and surfed PPOT like I did. What you don't know ...

George

[RWebb]

the house definitely seems to have had baseboard heaters in all rooms that were replaced by the in wall units

seems odd that the wire doesn't show as hot...

[GWN7]

Are the heaters marked in your electrical panel? If marked, are they 110v or 220? Is there any wires not connected to the panel that run to that area of the house?

[herr_oberst]

Better get Mike Holmes in there.

[cbush]

Actually it is a lot like working on an old Porsche. Lots of discovery learning with wiring.

I think if the house was wired for floor heaters, you should be able to find the other end somewhere near the electrical box. If you can, you can then put the baseboard back on, and cut off (mark for future reference) the other end.

I would also cut off and pull out as much of the wire behind the baseboard as you could just to make it neat.

If you can't find the other end, I tend to agree with GWN7. Fix it right or you would always worry about it.

[carambola]

first off, i'd fix that mess.

second, did you test the circuit with the t-stat on or off? that could be the reason for no juice being there.


enjoy the remodel

[EarlyPorsche]

That should be fixed to code...

Old homes always have stuff like that going on and the sad part is that the creative building is always hidden by some sort of fancy covering plate like a baseboard.

Not to get off topic but that wall is rougher than I would have in a shed...

[1990C4S]

If it is a disconnected baseboard heater line that is no longer used, AND if the other end is pulled from the breaker box, then it is legal.

Buy a fox and hound and trace the wire. It is likely live and needs to be replaced.

[RWebb]

I did get a hit off of that little beeper gizmo (finally).

fox and hound is not a good investment if you mean this $110 + shipping thing
Triplett Fox and Hound Testers available from Lashen Electronics

what does it do??

[aigel]

That fox and hound is an inductive wire tracer. The probe pics up the signal that is put on the wire by a signal generator. Generally, you'd put the generator at the junction box and you can trace the wire from there, often through building materials and down to the wire where it comes out the wall. Not familiar with the fox and hound but these type of tracers are very handy.

George

[Mark Henry]

My best friend is a union foreman, his favorite line is "when in doubt, rip it out".

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I did get a hit off of that little beeper gizmo (finally).

The occasional "beep" from the electrical tester does not mean the circuit is hot. They react to static electricity. If the circuit was hot, the beeper would be making a continous sound. Test the beeper gizmo with a known live circuit (extension cord, lamp cord, etc.).

The "Fox & Hound" allows you to trace the wiring audibly.

[dipso]

It looks a little weird being down on the ground like that. Are they hot? Touch em. Or just pull the nuts and touch them together real quick, see if a fuse blows.

If their hot and you have to keep them you can always just open the wall about a foot and move the wires up into the wall cavity and put them in a junction box. It's no big deal and then just buy a drywall square to patch it up.Materials can't cost more than ten bucks.

If those are hot I wouldn't want them on the ground like that, just because of water and things.
They could just be old thermostat wiring, those things don't carry much load.

Either way, If their hot and you want to keep them, just move em up.

[BGCarrera32]

The real problem is that if it goes up in flames you probably won't have time to grab the camcorder and get a video, and then the power is out and the computer is down so you can't get it on YouTube for us to see.

(I would leave them alone and just make sure you find the junction and disconnect/make sure they're dead. No reason to start hacking up the wall.)