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I'm new to the generator scene so your clear and concise explanation was very helpful. Thank you!

Good advice. Thanks! 🙏

BX is scary!!! I have seen it loose the return path and arching at multiple junctions. It should always be replaced!! In general we recommend replacement of any system over 70 years. No reason to wait for failure.

Great video. We replace lots of K&T here in Philadelphia. We stop agreeing to verify wiring safety after 70 years of service. It makes no sense to wait for failure. Knob and tube is due for replacement and early Non-Metallic wire is getting to that age too.

Early Romex was ungrounded also. Houses built in the 50's early 60's are also ungrounded.

Thank you for the straight to the point information

NYC requires it by code, because of their rodent problem.

Romex will not last as long, which is a bit sad. But, old wiring, needs to go. Not to mention, the new breaker boxes, have new safety features, like the yellow boots in the square d boxes.

MC/BX you buy today includes green/ground conductor for 14/2 & 12/2 applications - good to run in basements or commercial applications. I even bought MC/BX 14/3 w/ground and found that the conductors were stranded. I use the red 'anti-shorting' bushing at termination even though code doesn't mandate it, surprisingly. A small job of perhaps 4-8 outlets takes twice as long labor-wise using MC/BX but it's great for storage buildings where mechanical issues could fall on the conductors. Great channel and advice you give, thanks!

If your house has this youre neighbors are stealing your electricity

Exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you!

Great Vid! when i bought my house 13 years ago i had my panel replaced they put a 100 back in. wish they did a 200amp. my panel is full but i dont feel ill ever break the main breaker unless i add electric car chargers and run the stove and dryer at the same time. my dryer is 15 years old. if i replace ill move to a gas one. gas is cheap and i have gas in a good spot to easily run pipe. also i will add my ac unit i replaced went from using a constant 15 amps to my new 16 seer unit using 6 amps. everything is getting more efficient.

I am a plumber with 25 years of experience i just removed the last knob and tube wiring that was for the lighting circuit of the entire house. No holes in drywall. Fished 4 home runs to the attic, removed a couple floor boards and removed the last of knob and tube.

AC 90

Another issue is overloaded neutral wires

Aluminum Romex caused more fire then knob and tube

Dude, where is the next episode of the wiring history? Cant stop 100y from now! :-)

With a GFCI any ground will immediately trip the GFCI on case of a failure. However, a GFCI will not protect if the failure happens in the box like live wire touches the box.

Something that almost one seems to explain is how to choose the right interlock for your panel. Is there a serial number in your panel and you go by that and order the interlock? There are hundreds of interlocks designs out there. how you do choose?

Good information. Thank you for sharing

Just curious, my home has a 100 amp panel that is over 30 years old. A solar company installed 30 360 watt solar panels and our panel seems very hot! We asked about upgrading our panel but they said no. Should they have upgraded our panel?

Over demand on the circuit is true nobody has microwave oven and modern appliances back in 1902

If you have a 100a service and you have not had the main breaker trip you are probably ok.

How do I select the correct interlock kit for a panel?

Hello, I'm looking to install a ductless mini-split system. My house is 1200 sq ft with a 100 amp panel, the required power supply for the heat pump unit is 208/230 V 1-Phase. I use a gas stove, gas tankless water heater, and gas dryer. My wife drives an EV, for which we've installed an electric charger. I've done the load calculations for our home and have a total of 80 amps. Do you think I'm OK with the 100A panel? Cheers

I ran into a gas pipe at a duplex unit that was hot. It ran outside of the building about 2 feet off the ground for 40 feet. I was working at a small apartment building across the alley and the heating contractor that was working at the duplex came over and told me he received a shock from the gas pipe! I was skeptical but went over and looked and sure enough I read 124 vrs to ground.😫 To make a long story short it turned out that there were no ground wires anywhere in the duplex, and and no bonding of gas and water pipes. The kitchen stove had a spark ignition and the neutral wire of the stove cord was attached to the stove frame. The outlet that this was plugged into had hot and neutral crossed! Made everything attached to the stove hot. How no child ever got killed playing out there is beyond me…. Moral of the story: Always hire a qualified electrician.

LOL! The thumbnail caption totally has me ROFLMAO! Are fireworks safe? Is walking around a major city at night safe?

Great conclusion

Yikes!! I’m in the buying process of a house with KnT wiring, but more in hesitant. I live in NM, this house is 83 yrs old with a newer service panel. What should I do??

idk. I've had multiple quotes recently. With current code, upgrading from 100 to 200 is much more $... Your talking about replacing the meter box and adding a disconnect outside. With 100, you just replace the panel.

We all know there has to be that one person out there that does exactly what he said no one is going to do!! 😂 just imagine them running everything all at once lol😂

My home is 93 years old and I’m currently removing the knob&tube in the attic. Fortunately, wiring in the walls is romex and the k&t is only in the attic. Unfortunately, there is almost a foot of insulation in the attic. I’m replacing in the walls where possible, as well, since it’s old romex and the rubber/plastic is pretty brittle. It is very slow going. The hardest part was getting new home runs from the basement to the attic. It’s not too bad, actually.

Comments: 1. If it's getting hot enough buried in insulation, then there's another issue going on. I have yet to see any evidence of a fire from an unmolested, normally loaded K&T directly caused by covering with insulation. Millions of homes had this done. 2. Insurance companies. No surprise. What's new? 3. Ok, lack of ground. Inconvenient. Yes. Downright dangerous. Not necessarily. Depends. In your case, an handyman hack, not an original install. 4. I agree with this. Was also an issue with earlier plastic Romex. If you have attic access, one method to fix it is put a plastic jbox in the attic and cut off the burnt section of the old wires and route them into the box, then do a whip with modern NM to the fixture. I would not call this "extending the circuit". It's a repair. Other than burnt insulation in fixture boxes, the K&T I encountered had insulation in very good condition. 5. Yes it's old, but so what? These installation were almost always professionaly done and made to last. If you need to upgrade, run new circuits from the panel, leave the K&T alone, unless the house is gutted to the studs. K&T was still allowed in the 1975 NEC, although most AHJs outlawed it. The latest house I encountered with this wiring was built in 1968 in rural CA.

One of the best explanations I’ve seen thus far regarding K&t wiring. You forgot TWO important things to add. 1. K&T is rated for 15 amps. Oftentimes folks overload it and that’s trouble. 2. Neutral fusing Back in the day they thought if one fuse was safe adding another to the neutral would make it double safe. The problem with this is that when a fuse does blow it normally takes out the neutral fuse leaving the circuit hot. Many an electrician in the day would tell you the end result of that. That is IF they made it. K&t is safer but the facts you mentioned and the ones I added are why replacement with modern wiring is an order.

my understanding is that BX that includes a bonding strip is acceptable as a ground path. any input on this?

I don't know about electrical wiring but I was wondering if there could be a modern version of knob and tube wiring that is grounded?

I'm currently in the process of building a 900 ft² 2 bed 1 bath ranch home resembling built in the 40s to 60s, gas water heater/furnace, gas dryer and gas range for myself and soon to be wife (in south carolina gas heating is cheaper than electric) biggest load will be the central air conditioner, and slapping a 200 amp service by default, even though 100 amps is a bit overkill, mainly for resale purposes in case I'm forced to sell and relocate for job loss and relocation or other unforeseen circumstances. It's kind of like a new 2.3L ecoboost mustang vs a GT with the 5.0L V8, unless you plan on taking it to the racetrack today's 4 cylinder engines have more than enough power for your everyday commute, yet having a car with a naturally aspirated larger displacement V8 RWD car is viewed by some as American as baseball and apple pie with no plans to test it's limits. (I was one of those, had posters of vettes, mustangs, cameros , Monte Carlos what have you, covering my bedroom walls as a teenager much to my parents annoyance 😅, and felt the same about the 1993 Caprice Classic with the 350 I brought shortly after college, sometimes I still wish I had that car😅)

Do you have a portable generator you recommend?

You are only talking about old cloth covered BX cables installed many years ago, and not modern AC cable that some still call BX, right?

Knob and tube is really the worst because it has 90 years of hack jobs and jank accumulated. If unmodified, it's not that bad for lighting circuits.. but your issues are valid for sure. Having no ground on your outlets sure limits what you can use, and having a GFCI on every outlet really only is an expensive bandaid that doesn't actually fix the problem.

The biggest factor is where the house is located. A Northern Minnesota mid sized house with electric heat will not be 100 amp.

Appreciate the video, thank you!

Good info. I was wondering if I could connect Romex to the bx in a junction box. But I’m guessing no from what you mentioned in this video.

Thank you!

Thank you!

The only other con for the interlock is if you are in a remote area and have no neighbors or street lights, you have no way of knowing when the power is restored. Then again, probably not that big of an issue with power companies notifying customers via text these days, unless your cell service is down also.

What if someone has put a separate green ground wire from the bx fed box outlet all the way back to the panel ground?

Excellent Video. Just discovered K&T wiring in my mother-in-laws house, as an insulation company said they wouldn't insulate the attic with it. House is from 1920, so it makes sense. The house if full of K&T. 1300 sq ft house 2 stories, what is a ballpark to replace it? Each bedroom has a single outlet(in the baseboard), so i'm thinking that each room should have more outlets as well. BTW, the house is located in Portland, Maine, a stones throw from MA.

Good info, I prefer the interlock set up as well, works flawlessly. Could you do a video about the power back module?

Should people with K&T add arc fault breakers to make the home safer? What's the pros and cons to that solution?