I was working on a panel upgrade in a 1950s house in Tacoma and found a real mess

Opened up the old fuse box and saw a bunch of wires just twisted together with tape, no wire nuts at all. The homeowner said it had been fine for years, but I could see the tape was brittle and cracking. Had to shut everything down and redo all the connections properly, which added about three hours to the job. Ever had a simple upgrade turn into a major fix because of old hack work?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_anderson4d ago

Saw a video where tape melted from overload.

dixon.iris4d ago

My first solo panel swap in a Ballard bungalow had me feeling like a pro until I opened it up. Honestly, I found three different wire colors all twisted onto one terminal with what looked like chewing gum. Took me six hours to trace and fix it all. I spent more time cleaning up that mess than I did on the actual upgrade.

jamie_carter874d ago

Used to think a panel swap was just about the new gear. Then I found a junction box in a crawlspace wrapped in duct tape and grocery bags. Changed my whole view on what the job really is, you know? Now I budget twice the time just for finding and fixing that kind of creative wiring.