Refactoring the wiring
- 1 minLast weekend, I started a project to convert an old airing cupboad into something more suitable for storing clothing.
Until recent years, its been left under utilised, with oversized suitcases occupying the space formally reserved for the hot water cylnder. One day, the house filled with a funky smell, that I put down to the odor eater spay I’d just used. When it reapears alone the next day, I flashed back to a school lesson when the teacher showed up what burning household electrical wiring smelled like.
Fast forward to today, the cupboard has the rememnets of the wiring for the old heating system, along with the remains of pipework which wern’t adapted into the new system. Oh. . . and this is the entry point for the electric wiring into the main house. Similarly, there’s unused junctions, cut wires, and some that don’t reapear at the other end of the whole.
The house is old, and belonged to a tradesman. He’d adapted the wiring of the house to families needs, but the end points have gradually diapeared over the years.
Never one to turn down the oportunity to potentially blow up the house, I started stripping out anything that was confirmed as disconnected from the mains. With the cruft cleared, it was easier to trace the still connected, but uneeded spurs, transformers, and switches.
It was a fun exercise. One that left me with a better understanding of how the house is built.
And less for an electrician to deal with, and thus charge for, in the near future.