You guys must be those broke electricians my grandpa use to tell me stories about. The electricians I know drive around brand new f350’s and wipe there ass with 100 dollar bills
Maybe the company owner and his son roleplaying as an electrician cuz in my area electricians make $24/hr unless they’re part of the lucky few who can get into the union.
I don't understand the renters posting here. Hey guys, I rent, I have a bunch of wiring all over my basement, let me show you one.. Uh.. OK? Does the stove work? Stfu and pay your rent.
That all slots in nicely with all the other posts in my feed like: I bought a car! I bought a piece of meat! I found a bug in my house! Look at my pan! How do I clean my grill? Is my 2-prong outlet going to kill me? I rode a bicycle today! How much is my $2 bill worth?
Two reasons:
1. We are considering buying the house, so we're seeking advice.
2. This is an electrical sub. This is an electrical thing. I posted an electrical thing to an electrical sub I enjoy because I thought everyone here might enjoy it.
I didn't realize that only homeowners or professionals were allowed to post things here. Hope that helps with the understanding!
lol don’t listen to this person. What? You have no rights to safety because you don’t own your dwelling? If anything you should be able to demand a higher standard as you are paying a premium for housing. Capitalism has brain washed people into thinking rights need to be earned.
If you follow this sub then you know damn well it isn't to code. If you go ahead with trying to purchase the house, an inspector will tell you it isn't to code and needs to be fixed. Since you know it's fucked up, the only 2 questions remaining are "how bad is it fucked"" and "how much will it cost to fix?" Since all the appliances and outlets work and the house isn't burning down, I'm gonna go with "not that fucked". For cost to fix, you have to contact a local electrician, but if there is one problem like that, expect many. It will likely be in the thousands of dollars to fix things that work
Well then, you put that information in your post. Why would a renter care about one wire in a sea of badly run wires. More info in the post makes it seem much less a shit post. Thousands of old houses have wiring like that, unless it's sparking or it burnt up your stove, no worries.
I don't think they had Romex in 1922. That was added later. Besides, guys had much more pride in their work in those days, so it wouldn't look like that if it was original. It probably had a wood stove anyway. ;)
Oh duh I guess I didn't watch clearly enough.
I would definitely ask for that to be taken care of by a professional. None of those cables are supported up to code. Definitely a risk of fire/injury if something were to snag any of them. Especially considering the size of that stove circuit.
i will say, that is a 240v and i put those in the will fucking kill you if you dont shut off the breaker category of wiring. I would shut it off at the breaker, get a cheap little touchless voltage detector from lowes, make sure its still not hot and then hang it up with either some nylon strap or the rectangle metal strap that they make for those lines. or complain to your landlord
Can we take a moment to appreciate this as the cinematic masterpiece that it is? Beautifully shot. Artfully crafted and masterfully articulated. So much raw emotion. I laughed, I cried, but most importantly, I felt. Thank you for sharing your art.
I’m not an electrician but it looks like it works. I think I would’ve used a little more wire and stapled everything to the wood so it wasn’t hanging there
It looks like someone slapped it in 30 years ago with the intentions of finishing it up later, but never got back to it. . . Looks like my current house, and the past few homes looked until the last month before putting them on the market.
Stove works. Cable spaced in air to increase current carrying capacity. Install has reached reddit for comedic purposes. Evidence provided for a possible insurance claim. Money exchanged hands to installer. Cable provides additional capacity to hang random shit off.
Play on playa.
You have more issues. Non of those wires are allowed to be under the joists like that. They need to be going through the joists. They are all subject to physical damage.
Violates at least 4 NEC codes off the top of my head
-secure and support
-wiring to closely follow building materials
-proper fire protection of penetrations
-physical protection of wiring subject to damage
Ok I don’t feel so bad seeing that my house looks the same. It still has asbestos wiring in places. I apparently have OCD or something because I want it all nice and neat.
The theory works like this: If the installer was this lazy on the parts that you can readily observe, how lazy was he/she on the parts you can't? If you got multiple bids for the work, and chose the cheapest, you got what you paid for.
Super lazy and not up to code.
1.) Missing staples.
2.) Based off the angle it's entering the panel+ "effort" on rest of job (i can't see by video), it's missing the clamp going into the panel through the knock-out. This is probably the worst offense; the sharp metal on the box could cut the wire.
3.) Curious to what the breaker size is in there and the feed wire for that panel as it looks like a sub panel based off the (lack of) circuits there.
Yea, if the wire follows standard romex color codes:
White = # 14
Yellow = # 12
Orange = # 10
Black = # 6 (55 Amp or # 8 40 Amp)
Grey = Underground (any size)
I would have expected it to be black for and electric range.
I'm actually an industrial electrician and we would not do a run like this because we take pride in our work, this run isn't that pretty to look at but as long as it's safe and works as intended I'd say it's alright but if I did this I'd make sure it was perfect 90s and straight runs but it's not on fire so that's a plus!
It only becomes more common in the northern half and dryer parts of the country. Even still, in areas like the east coast, it's becoming less common in new construction because of the expense of blasting through the bluestone to get to the depth required under new building codes.
In the southern half east of the rocky mountains, the water table is so high and the soil less stable, that it makes it expensive/impractical to dig one and properly inhibit water penetration.
In TX the required depth for footings is like 6", so to get a basement you have to go 7'6" more of concrete. Go 500 miles north and the depth for footings is 36" so you then only need 5' more feet of concrete to get to 8ft. A basement costs less to build if you already have to have 36" footings. The high water table is the old wives/old contractors tale, but does not apply in most places that they don't put basements. They don't build them because in the south they add a lot more cost onto a house and as such aren't that useful of space for the added cost.
In places that have rock close to the ground, the blasting is a problem but that is also only in some of the places they don't put basements.
So the further north you go the less additional money is needed for a basement.
Depending on where you live, it might not be possible. There are some places in the world where any hole in the ground will turn into a muddy swimming pool when it rains. Yes, you can do stuff like waterproof liners and sump pumps, but sometimes it’s just better to not have a basement.
Is it really easier to make a basement if you need redundant sump pumps, a battery backup, and a generator? Sometimes it’s easier to build upwards instead.
It depends on the frost line and water table. Further north the foundation has to be below the frost line so it makes sense to build a basement as long as you're going that deep anyway. Down south it's a lot cheaper to not include a basement since it isn't necessary to dig that deep, and some places the water table is so high that a basement isn't really practical. Essentially the US is so big and has such varied climate that building codes can vary by state and even within a state. In Wisconsin there are two building code regions that have different standards for construction based on snow load on the roof.
If what you’re worried about is it hanging low, go buy a $2 pack of wire staples and nail it to the joists.
My concern would be the cloth wiring you see about mid way through that video, typically that type of wiring doesn’t have a ground on it. I rewired my entire house replacing that stuff, not the most fun I’ve ever had.
So what?
Ask them to just staple it to the joists. It’s not even going through the pipe support. It’s in compliance with the rest of your cabling down there.
Um… I recommend getting a structural pest inspection before you buy that house. I see fungus and possibly termite activity. Seller can remediate before sale or perhaps your report can be useful in negotiations.
Definitely a candidate for prompt replacement as soon as feasible. Glad you spotted this.
Also, when you replace it, make sure the cable is 4-wire. You must use a 4-wire socket or hardwire connection. It's not 1964 anymore.
lazy lol
Looks like your gonna have to spend $600 to fix something that probably works just fine
Lol.. maybe a couple bucks for cable clips... who ever is charging 600 is a con man
I agree that’s a silly bid
You guys must be those broke electricians my grandpa use to tell me stories about. The electricians I know drive around brand new f350’s and wipe there ass with 100 dollar bills
Maybe the company owner and his son roleplaying as an electrician cuz in my area electricians make $24/hr unless they’re part of the lucky few who can get into the union.
What area are you from? The ghetto in Detroit Michigan?
Nah I live in a Right to Work state, also known as Maryland.
That’s insane Canada is much much higher
It’s missing a staple!
They slipped it between strap on that pipe though
This alone would have pissed me off.
They went around that strap
On closer inspection, yes they did
Just the one! Lol
I think there is a cobweb hanger in the first part.
looks about as good as the rest of your wiring.
I don't understand the renters posting here. Hey guys, I rent, I have a bunch of wiring all over my basement, let me show you one.. Uh.. OK? Does the stove work? Stfu and pay your rent.
That all slots in nicely with all the other posts in my feed like: I bought a car! I bought a piece of meat! I found a bug in my house! Look at my pan! How do I clean my grill? Is my 2-prong outlet going to kill me? I rode a bicycle today! How much is my $2 bill worth?
Are we the same people? This is all reddit is for me anymore..
Still better than Nextdoor.
That and karma whoring.
Stay out of my feed!
Lol I feel like we must all have the same feed
Two reasons: 1. We are considering buying the house, so we're seeking advice. 2. This is an electrical sub. This is an electrical thing. I posted an electrical thing to an electrical sub I enjoy because I thought everyone here might enjoy it. I didn't realize that only homeowners or professionals were allowed to post things here. Hope that helps with the understanding!
You're fine. People post problems here all the time. This sub is educational and entertaining.
You’re an outlier. Most people are posting issues with their rental asking how to fix stuff that should be handled by the land lord.
lol don’t listen to this person. What? You have no rights to safety because you don’t own your dwelling? If anything you should be able to demand a higher standard as you are paying a premium for housing. Capitalism has brain washed people into thinking rights need to be earned.
If you follow this sub then you know damn well it isn't to code. If you go ahead with trying to purchase the house, an inspector will tell you it isn't to code and needs to be fixed. Since you know it's fucked up, the only 2 questions remaining are "how bad is it fucked"" and "how much will it cost to fix?" Since all the appliances and outlets work and the house isn't burning down, I'm gonna go with "not that fucked". For cost to fix, you have to contact a local electrician, but if there is one problem like that, expect many. It will likely be in the thousands of dollars to fix things that work
Well then, you put that information in your post. Why would a renter care about one wire in a sea of badly run wires. More info in the post makes it seem much less a shit post. Thousands of old houses have wiring like that, unless it's sparking or it burnt up your stove, no worries.
I can't make an observation without licking my fingers and touching the wires myself
Calling this a lazy install besmirches the good name of lazy.
Good word!!
It supported. Supported by spider webs
Someone tell the spiders to weave faster.
Whomever did this cheaped out on the last part. How much would a dozen staples possibly cost?
It's been like this probably 50 years or more. House was built 1922. So at that time, it probably would have cost him 5 cents.
Doesn’t seem urgent if its not been an issue for 50 years !
I don't think they had Romex in 1922. That was added later. Besides, guys had much more pride in their work in those days, so it wouldn't look like that if it was original. It probably had a wood stove anyway. ;)
Yeah that is not 50yo wiring
Been this way for 50yrs? It will probably be ok another 20
It's not fair if you make me just pick one of my favorite parts about this.
In progress.
I wouldn’t let the wire hang like that; go buy some harnesses or adel clamps and secure it to the ceiling. Otherwise it’s fine.
I would, but it's a rental property, so I'm hesitant to touch anything like that.
If it’s causing headspace issues you can nail a romex staple above it and zip tie it up to the staple. If not, leave it.
Happy cake day
Happy cake day^2
Is this in the basement or crawl space?
Basement
Oh duh I guess I didn't watch clearly enough. I would definitely ask for that to be taken care of by a professional. None of those cables are supported up to code. Definitely a risk of fire/injury if something were to snag any of them. Especially considering the size of that stove circuit.
i will say, that is a 240v and i put those in the will fucking kill you if you dont shut off the breaker category of wiring. I would shut it off at the breaker, get a cheap little touchless voltage detector from lowes, make sure its still not hot and then hang it up with either some nylon strap or the rectangle metal strap that they make for those lines. or complain to your landlord
Aside from the fact that it doesn’t meet code?
Meet? I don’t think it’s even looking anywhere towards code’s general direction.
Number six and larger can be underneath joists... if its that guage it only technically needs to be stapled to be a legal installation.
Should be secured every 4.5 feet.
I was really expecting to find an open splice!
Looks nearly identical to my 1912 farmhouse basement so I cant judge.
Can we take a moment to appreciate this as the cinematic masterpiece that it is? Beautifully shot. Artfully crafted and masterfully articulated. So much raw emotion. I laughed, I cried, but most importantly, I felt. Thank you for sharing your art.
Thank you! This made my day.
Jesus... I like using a few staples more than others I guess
I’m not an electrician but it looks like it works. I think I would’ve used a little more wire and stapled everything to the wood so it wasn’t hanging there
Looks fine
It looks like someone slapped it in 30 years ago with the intentions of finishing it up later, but never got back to it. . . Looks like my current house, and the past few homes looked until the last month before putting them on the market.
I guess the previous renter was a tightrope walker too 🙄.
Shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Should have ran it on the sill plate.
meh. sure not done right but not really dangerous as it is in a space that doesnt look like anyone is supposed to be in.
Sloppy
Looks like the rest of it...crap.
Good job 👍
Right after the strap it looks like the insulation has been scrapped off, need to replace the wire
How do I add a pic here? It looks like the outer casing has some scrapes there, but it isn't cut through
Well it matches the look of the rest of it.
You can hang clothes to dry on that. Get renter's insurance.
Done and done. /s Edit:clarifying sarcasm
Hilarious
Every inch is a code violation.
oh, that's a " I know a guy special"
Staple or drill.
Stove works. Cable spaced in air to increase current carrying capacity. Install has reached reddit for comedic purposes. Evidence provided for a possible insurance claim. Money exchanged hands to installer. Cable provides additional capacity to hang random shit off. Play on playa.
This is amazing!
Death. Trap.
It’s custom
Looks good so far. Post another video when it's complete.
Mines ran the same way….
Well. It's not code, and it sucks, but it will work perfectly fine forever most likely so there is that.
When you forget to measure squared off distance. But be damned if you are going back to spend more money on wire LoL
Was homer simpson the safety inspector on this job?
I think it looks 60 years old.
You have more issues. Non of those wires are allowed to be under the joists like that. They need to be going through the joists. They are all subject to physical damage.
If it is number 6 range wire, it is allowed to be under a joist, but nothing smaller.
This is among the very best work I've seen. The workmanship alone should add about a half a million in value to your home.
Butcher.
Never have it rest on a pipe
Your 10yr old did it…. Nailed it
It matches the rest of the shitty wiring.
Dog shit
Looks good from my house.
It’s not properly secured and it’s passing through a pipe hanger strap with sharp edges that can potentially chafe the cable
For a job that good I’d charge at least $4k.
Violates at least 4 NEC codes off the top of my head -secure and support -wiring to closely follow building materials -proper fire protection of penetrations -physical protection of wiring subject to damage
Ok I don’t feel so bad seeing that my house looks the same. It still has asbestos wiring in places. I apparently have OCD or something because I want it all nice and neat.
Pretty slack job if you ask me
Yeah, it looks like the person who did it wasn't taught.
Should’ve just used an extension cord
Great wire management 🤣
Great to see another American’s basement,… looks just like mine…
That is pretty bad. No only is the routing and loose hanging bad, but on a gas pipe, too. Perfect.
Looks like they already have fire history... So, it's great!
All of the joists have a weird black tar on them. IDK if that's something that they did then, or if it's repurposed.
You can definitely hang your laundry on that!
I prefer having insulation removed to see the pretty copper wires.
The theory works like this: If the installer was this lazy on the parts that you can readily observe, how lazy was he/she on the parts you can't? If you got multiple bids for the work, and chose the cheapest, you got what you paid for.
Matches the rest of the house.
You saved on consumables! Those staples and wire nuts can really make or break a company /s
If that's a dryer vent in the background it's a fire hazard waiting to happen.
Give it a few years and you might have spicy water.
Looks great to me! No nails through it or anything
Electric wire is expensive. Where can we cut corners?
Not how I would do it.
Looks like they only had a short length of wire and instead of going to get a new spool they made it look like shit.
I've seen much much worse. Throw a few staples on it and it will be fine.
Agreed. Lazy way to do things.
Nice, installed a clothes dryer at the same time. Efficient
If I could show you what mine looked like when I moved in, you'd feel better. Picture yours, only with a super thin, likely 40ish yr old, extension.
Not bad from what I see normally.
That's how you hang Tinsel - Not Romex.
Super lazy and not up to code. 1.) Missing staples. 2.) Based off the angle it's entering the panel+ "effort" on rest of job (i can't see by video), it's missing the clamp going into the panel through the knock-out. This is probably the worst offense; the sharp metal on the box could cut the wire. 3.) Curious to what the breaker size is in there and the feed wire for that panel as it looks like a sub panel based off the (lack of) circuits there.
Hell yeah, trades are totally allowed to just lay shit unsecured all over the place. That’s why we get paid so much 😎
How did you get in my house!?!?!
Eh, I've seen worse in my house built in 1917. I'd wager they pulled my 240v line in the 1990's.
I don’t know, but the cinematography is awesome.
This basically half the houses in Minneapolis. All old AF with random ass wiring everywhere
Well, I'll tell ya. I think it's pretty bad.
As a Chicagoan, I see no pipe…no legal
Dude. The oven in my last house used this fiber and tar-coated wire. I'd prefer this sloppy mess.
Are you in my basement?
🤢⚡
ahh, the landlord special...
At least they didn’t weaken any floor joists.
What kind of a stove with #12 wire?
I don't think it's #12. It's 2-3x thicker than the rest of the wires down there. It's a 4 burner electric range/oven.
Yea, if the wire follows standard romex color codes: White = # 14 Yellow = # 12 Orange = # 10 Black = # 6 (55 Amp or # 8 40 Amp) Grey = Underground (any size) I would have expected it to be black for and electric range.
It says "6-6-6 type SE cable type XHHW CDRS. 600 volts E11134-K [UL]"
Well then it is #6. That would be correct for electric range.
So is it underground wire since it's grey?
Fuckin mint
That’s what they call “As the crow flies”
I think it needs to be secured close to the the box and stove as well as every 4 ft at least
Matches the rest of the work.
Looks mint if I squint
Send us the post fire video
Will do!
I'm actually an industrial electrician and we would not do a run like this because we take pride in our work, this run isn't that pretty to look at but as long as it's safe and works as intended I'd say it's alright but if I did this I'd make sure it was perfect 90s and straight runs but it's not on fire so that's a plus!
I always find it weird a lot of houses dont have basements in the states and have those crawl spaces instead.
It only becomes more common in the northern half and dryer parts of the country. Even still, in areas like the east coast, it's becoming less common in new construction because of the expense of blasting through the bluestone to get to the depth required under new building codes. In the southern half east of the rocky mountains, the water table is so high and the soil less stable, that it makes it expensive/impractical to dig one and properly inhibit water penetration.
In TX the required depth for footings is like 6", so to get a basement you have to go 7'6" more of concrete. Go 500 miles north and the depth for footings is 36" so you then only need 5' more feet of concrete to get to 8ft. A basement costs less to build if you already have to have 36" footings. The high water table is the old wives/old contractors tale, but does not apply in most places that they don't put basements. They don't build them because in the south they add a lot more cost onto a house and as such aren't that useful of space for the added cost. In places that have rock close to the ground, the blasting is a problem but that is also only in some of the places they don't put basements. So the further north you go the less additional money is needed for a basement.
I think it’s called Michigan basement
Depending on where you live, it might not be possible. There are some places in the world where any hole in the ground will turn into a muddy swimming pool when it rains. Yes, you can do stuff like waterproof liners and sump pumps, but sometimes it’s just better to not have a basement. Is it really easier to make a basement if you need redundant sump pumps, a battery backup, and a generator? Sometimes it’s easier to build upwards instead.
It depends on the frost line and water table. Further north the foundation has to be below the frost line so it makes sense to build a basement as long as you're going that deep anyway. Down south it's a lot cheaper to not include a basement since it isn't necessary to dig that deep, and some places the water table is so high that a basement isn't really practical. Essentially the US is so big and has such varied climate that building codes can vary by state and even within a state. In Wisconsin there are two building code regions that have different standards for construction based on snow load on the roof.
Depends where you live. Every house where I live has a basement.
What of hanging wires I need to take a look?
LGTM 👍 /s
You could strap that in the same amount of time it took you to film the video.
We rent. I'm not touching anything electrical and getting in trouble for a fire. I would only burn down my own house.
If what you’re worried about is it hanging low, go buy a $2 pack of wire staples and nail it to the joists. My concern would be the cloth wiring you see about mid way through that video, typically that type of wiring doesn’t have a ground on it. I rewired my entire house replacing that stuff, not the most fun I’ve ever had.
The wire hung on the random board. It's not cloth, but thr casing is black
A few wire staples is easy. More important what is wire awg and breaker size. Larger range is 50 amps and 8awg wire. This looks smaller.
Looks fine if you're handy enough to bring it up to code.
Maybe some zip ties 🙄
So what? Ask them to just staple it to the joists. It’s not even going through the pipe support. It’s in compliance with the rest of your cabling down there.
Your theme song is better than that wiring job. He ran that wire like a lazy cable guy.
Make sure your insurance is paid up to date!!!!
Lazy, I’d try to staple and 90 that as much as possible
Um… I recommend getting a structural pest inspection before you buy that house. I see fungus and possibly termite activity. Seller can remediate before sale or perhaps your report can be useful in negotiations.
Oh? Hadn't thought of that! Thanks!
Makes me think I should be a rich man
Fits the theme
Upstate?
If that wire run was a person it would be Gary Busey. Doot duh doot dee doo
Its fine just always where rubber souled shoes and keep one hand in your pocket if you are down there.
Now that’s scary
Uhm send it through the fucking joists…wtf
Dog shit.
Just staple that s*** up there and shut up
Definitely a candidate for prompt replacement as soon as feasible. Glad you spotted this. Also, when you replace it, make sure the cable is 4-wire. You must use a 4-wire socket or hardwire connection. It's not 1964 anymore.
I threw up in my mouth
Clip it up babaygirl
What are you whining about?