We Got the Power
Reaching for a mug in the kitchen cabinet this morning, I was reminded of one of the large improvements I've made to Chez Melendy. Behind the wine glasses in the cabinet is an electrical outlet that's dedicated for a microwave. Why behind the wine glasses? Well, that's another story, but the fact that the house now has modern electrical service is significant. When Chez Melendy was built, residential electrical service was merely a dream for the future, and the closest thing to a microwave oven was a 900lb cast-iron behemoth that was powered by wood and doubled as the furnace.
When we bought Chez Melendy, the electrical service had the appearance of being just barely sufficient. There were two ungrounded electrical outlets in every room and there was a breaker panel in the basement. It looked as though the service had been upgraded sometime in the last 40 years because the cable running out of the breaker box was all NM thermoplastic coated Romex of an early vintage. There was also some older BX cable (flexible metal conduit with 2 cloth-insulated conductors running inside) that ran out into the barn, so without breaking into any walls I knew that there were at least two generations of wiring in the house.
The plan was to gut the house. Besides giving us the opportunity to insulate the walls, gutting would allow us to install up-to-date electrical service. Modern living runs on electricity. Using power strips and extension cords to supplement available outlets is frustratingly inconvenient and down right dangerous.
As we found to be the case in Chez Melendy, the "upgrade" to early vintage Romex was really just replacing one section of a weak chain. In most every circuit, the Romex would be joined at a junction box further down the line to either the old BX cable or an even earlier kind of ungrounded 2-conductor Romex that was insulated using asphalt impregnated woven cloth.
And for all the circuit breakers that appeared in the electrical box, the distribution of power was a joke compared to today's standards. One circuit fed the entire upstairs, lighting and outlets. Another fed the entire downstairs, lighting and outlets. Another fed the refridgerator and a single outlet near the dining area. Another fed the furnace--and this one had been tapped into to provide service to a bathroom that was added on the first floor. And finally, a 220V circuit fed the well pump.
Actually, my guess is that for an old house this scenario wasn't too bad. As long as the breakers aren't overrated for the circuit, a patchwork of wiring may not meet todays code but doesn't constitue a crime either. And the further I got into the demolition, I realized that the wiring in Chez Melendy was a study in the evolution of residential electrical service. I'll write a little about that evolution next time and compare the old service to what replaced it.
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