Learned a hard lesson about knob and tube last week

I was replacing some old fixtures in a 1920s house over in Portland and thought I had the power killed at the panel. Turned out someone had tied a live knob and tube circuit into a modern junction box with no marker. Got a pretty good zap that made me rethink my whole approach. Now I always double check every wire with my tick tracer before I touch anything, even if the breaker says off. Anyone else run into hidden live circuits in old work?

2 comments

2 Comments

briancarter1mo ago

Classic. Trust but verify. Or get tased by 100 year old wiring.

grace5081mo ago

Opened up a wall once in a flipped house and found the original knob and tube wiring just sitting there with tape wrapped around it. Felt like I was doing surgery with a blindfold on, no idea what was live. Never again without a meter and a prayer.