removing old wiring in rewire job

17 years ago

I have a house built in the 50's with an unfinished basement. I have a 100a breaker panel. One particular 15a circuit has tripped and the breaker will not reset. When this happened I thought I smelled burning wires but it went away. This circuit feeds the living room, bathroom, hallway and kid's bedroom. I would like to put each of these areas on their own dedicated circuit. I am going to replace: the exisitng 15a breaker; every switch and outlet; all wiring with 12/2 and 12/3 and make each new circuit 20a.

Here is the question, is it ok with the NEC if I leave the old wires in the walls since I am totally disconnecting the original circuit feeder wire and breaker from the panel? Or do I have to cut into my drywall following the path of the circuit in order to remove all old wiring? Thanks.

P.S. If I have to remove the wiring, is there and easier way to remove it other than removing the wall?

Featured Answer

kudzu9

17 years ago

You can abandon it in place. I try to remove as much as I easily can when rewiring, but sometimes it's held in place by the staples and just too hard to completely remove. If you do leave some in the wall, you want to be sure it's really disconnected. Incompetent DIY electricians have a knack for doing strange things like hooking up wires in hidden locations and not always in boxes, so you want to be really sure that you know where all the wires lead and that anything you leave behind is competely dead when you're finished and the juice is back on. Of course, if you're permanently disconnecting ALL of the old stuff at the breaker box, that shouldn't be a concern.

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Comments (8)

electrifyingmojo
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks. I have another question. Since my basement is unfinished, I wanted to route all wiring from beneath instead of within the walls. Tell me if this is allowed by NEC. I want to first predrill holes from the basement into the first floor wall cavity and fish the wire from the basement into the cavity and into the receptacle box. I wanted to run a wire from that receptacle back into the basement and repeat the process until I complete the circuit for that particular room. All connections will be made in each receptacle box the way they normally are with the exception that the wiring is routed from underneath instead of thorugh the walls. (It therefore will be: under the wall, into the cavity, connect to left side of receptacle, wire goes down right side of receptacle fished back to basement and on to next recpetacle until circuit is completed). Thanks.
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bus_driver
17 years ago
That is permissible. Boxes used must have cable clamps for this application.
electrifyingmojo
Original Author
17 years ago
What kind of clamps are you referring to? Is it ok to use the plastic boxes with the "ears" that stop the wires from coming out or do I need the metal boxes with the screw in clamps?
brickeyee
17 years ago
It goes a lot faster puting t j-box in the basement for each receptacle above.
Fishing one cable is bad enough, but getting a second in to each box is a real PITA.
The code is silent on fished wires and plastic boxes.
I think it is a problem since plastic boxes are very dependent on the staple at each box for cable restraint, but fastening is not required in fished wiring.
This leaves just the plastic tab as a cable restraint device.
electrifyingmojo
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks. I failed to mention that I will also be finshing my basement. The ceiling will be a drop ceiling though. I read in one of those diy books that a junction box can't be behind a wall or closed in. Would that apply with a drop ceiling where the panels can be reomoved? Thanks.
bus_driver
17 years ago
Brickeyee, the way I interpret 314.17(C), the fished cable must be secured to the box unless it is fastened within 8" of the box. Fastening within that range is rarely possible for fished cables. Metal boxes per (B), cables must be secured to the box.
DavidR
17 years ago
As long as you don't have to break into the surface to access the box, you should be code compliant.