Legacy wiring sparks questions

Q: My wife and I are looking at buying a home that was built in 1955. Some of the wiring is paper wrap. We aren't sure how much. I was wondering if any of the paper wrap was ever made with a ground wire. Also I was wondering about the safety of paper wrap. We have to travel about 750 miles to look at this home and would like to know if it should be a big concern.

A: There's no easy answer to this one. Some of the cable you refer to did not have a ground wire, and some of it did. Also, older wiring such as this was not as heat resistant as the jackets used today, and it's not unusual to find wiring that has heat damage to it, especially behind light fixtures.

Finally, a house that is more than 50 years old is almost certainly going to have had some remodeling work done, and it's impossible to know what different homeowners, contractors and electricians may have done with the wiring.

If you are seriously considering buying the house, you need to have a qualified electrician examine the wiring and determine its condition, as well as determining whether subsequent repairs and remodeling were done correctly. The electrician can also determine if the house is safe and up to current code and, if not, what would be required to get it there. Incidentally, I would suggest the services of a licensed electrician for this -- not a home inspector.

Because the house is so far away, if you are working with a real estate agent in that city perhaps he or she could arrange to have the electrical evaluation done for you and save you a trip. That way, if the work is too extensive you can have the opportunity to reevaluate your purchase plans, or perhaps talk with the sellers about a price reduction.

Q: We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. We replaced the recirculating stove hood and installed a better system that vents to the roof. I don't recall if they used 6- or 8-inch piping but it was the size recommended by the manufacturer. The total amount of piping is probably about 12-15 feet from fan to roof vent. I think the bigger problem is that this ventilation piping takes a few turns via a few 45-degree turns before it exits the roof.

The fan mounted in the stove hood was very powerful (based on the manufactures specs), but I think the turns and pipe lengths are impeding the airflow and it's an inefficient system. The amount of air that leaves the stove vs. the noise it produces makes it easier to tolerate the smoke. ...CONTINUED

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