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Electrical Wiring

what kind of cable is this?

15 years ago

All,

I'm adding a door to my home, and have to re-route some electrical wiring. The home was built in 1950, but the door is in an addition that I believe was added in the late 70's or early 80's. The main house is mostly knob and tube, with some romex on circuits for rooms that were remodeled. The addition is some sort of armored cable - 1/2in diam, with two conductors inside(white/black). My outlets all appear to be grounded, so I assume that the armored cable itself serves as a ground? Is this BX cable?

I need to re-route the circuit that went through the wall where the new door is. Can I use romex to route this line over the door? There are outlets on either side of the door on this circuit. My plan was just to remove the cable between the outlets, and replace with Romex, which will be much easier to route, and I believe is approved in my area.

If that sounds good, can I simply assume that the junction boxes will be grounded, and tie the ground on the romex to the box?

This work is obviously not permitted, but I would like to keep this safe, and to code. Located in northern California.

C

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Comments (5)

brickeyee
15 years ago
The slang name for it is BX, but it most likely is actually type AC.

To be to code it needs a permit.

The armor is the ground for AC.
Be sure to use the correct box connectors for NM and protect it if the holes are less than 1.25 in from the face of the stud.

Just use a screw to hook the NM ground up to the box.
There may be a threaded hole, but if not you can drill and thread one.
Ron Natalie
15 years ago
Sorry Brick,

Dangerously wrong.

"Armored Cable" is a generic term.
"Type AC" is a code specific term for a particular type of cable. Not all armored cable is Type AC. Old "BX" is NOT Type AC.

The armor is NOT the ground in Type AC. There is an additional grounding conductor.

If all there is grounding the circuit is the armor itself (no bond wire or ribbon), then it is not permissible to use that to extend the circuit in most jurisdiction.
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Ron Natalie
15 years ago
By the way, the poster is either confused about the construction date, wiring types, or someone did something really strange. It's hard to imagine a post-wwII installation of K&T wiring.
cmlawrence
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks everyone..

Ronnatalie - there are lots of homes in my neighborhood, all built in the early 50's, with K&T.

And by "not permissible to extend the circuit" - do you mean not permissible to add more outlets/fixtures? I'm not planning to do that - just to reroute a section, which does require a longer cable (thus the switch to romex over the door).

C
joelbuckley
15 years ago
Even though you aren't extending the circuit, someone might come along later and see your new NM cable and think that it would be safe to tap into it. So if the armored cable has no bonding strip (e.g. it's the old BX type) then I'd say it's not a good idea to do what you're planning.

For the record, I grew up in a house built in 1962 that had nothing but knob and tube.

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