Mystery – Wire running into cement?
jps
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Hello,
I have recently moved into a new (used) home. There is a 14 gauge cable running from an outside socket into the cement around one of the porch supports. Can anyone shed some light on this? I have been afraid to plug it in for fear of the unknown.
Possible clues:
I just moved to Georgia from up north – is this some bug defense?
The deck looks 10(?) years old, but the cement looks newer (1-2 years?)
The lot is on a hill, lots of trees, creek running nearby.
The last guy who lived here was a DIY-er like myself.
Replies
Active outlet.
Just lacks the normal proper type installation it should have got. This sounds like DIY / Hackamania at work.
With work like that be a hardcore cycnic. Every thing in your house is now suspect.
Shut off the power feed, isolate the recepticale and cut everything out. This has the potential to be very dangerous.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Ok, So I think I confused the issue a bit.
There is a regular outdoor outlet. That part is original.
Then, there is what looks like a home-made extension cord that starts (with a male plug) at the outlet. As I said - it is currently unplugged.
It then runs directly into the cement. No conduit, nothing. Just runs under the deck about 10 feet and pops right into the poured cement post.
As for the DIY part. The work he has done actually looks pretty good. He kept the house in tip-top shape. You know, there are some of us DIYers out here who take the time to do it right. It may take us three days to install a bathroom fan (yes, that is me) but by golly I do it right.
Thanks for your help!
JP
If it goes into a cement post...could it be for an exterior light fixture, either on the post of maybe in the ceiling of the structure?
Do it right, or do it twice.
"could it be for an exterior light fixture"
Not that I know of. The post is the furthest post from the house, and with no sign of any previous fixture or anything. No ceiling or anything - just your run of the mill treated deck.
I also dug a few inches into the ground around the post to see if it came out again, and didn't find anything."One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions"
2nd off... Welcome to BT Mr JP Newbie.
Since you didn't take the time to fill out your profile information... Please have your check in the mail by the beginning of the week. Thank you
Other wise enjoy your stay... Lots of good people here...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
On a second note:
Good point - that is now rectified...
And thanks - the info here is great - I hope I can add something here and there."One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions"
jp,
Have you looked at it closely where it goes into the concrete to make sure there is not a piece of conduit in the concrete that the wire has been pulled through ?
>There is a 14 gauge cable running from an outside socket into the cement around one of the porch supports
Poor man's electric radiant heat?
Just kidding.
Here's my ex pwert opinion;
When he built the porch he dug the piers in and found this one was going to be perched on top of the water line incoming. Fearing that it might freeze because of the concrete in contact with it, he wrapped it with heat tape and plugged it into an extension cord which we now see displayed in front of us.
Just kidding, of course..
Excellence is its own reward!
Of course if one experiment is worth a thousand experts, just get offline and plug in the cord and whatch to see what sizzles...LOL.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin, you took the words out of my mouth there!;-)
Even a DIY should know when to call the experts, especially with electricity.
Then, what do I know...
You might be right.... save the laffs for later.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Call the guy you bought the house from and ask him what the wire does.
take a multimeter...set to ohms, check across the pins of the male plug...see if you have any resistance....maybe a bootleg outlet someplace (open) or an unswitched lite (closed), or like piff said, maybe heat tape someplace (measurable resistance).
If it's on an outside post....what could logically be out that way it could run to, if it goes underground there? Fountain? Tool shed? Heated dog dish?
Everybody just calm down, I'm sure if JP justs waits until December he'll see it's for lighting up the Christmas slab...unless, of course, the former owner was a retailer, then it'll come on next week<G>
EliphIno!
edited see what despairo #### out...hmmmm
Edited 10/12/2003 4:40:52 PM ET by bucksnort billy
Actually, I had already done that - I got 6 M-Ohm. (Which happens to be the resistance from one of my fingers to the other.) Does this tell anyone anything? There is obviously something in between the hot and neutral but what?
In regards to calling a professional and the past homeowner. Both said...
"hmmm... interesting question... I dunno."
The electrician added - "I could cut it off for you..."
Very helpful.
"One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions"
Cutting it off could potentially be a DIY project. buy some beer and hot dogs and invite the crew over for a cutting party.
or if you are the private kind of guy, there is a specialist named Lorena Bobbitt who ...
;)
Anyways - It is clearly dangerous since it should not run in 'crete without shielding so you should never use it for anything, so you should cut it off to avoid the temptation. od course, you could hire the sparky to remove it. That way his insurance is active if anything goes wrong. Not that aanything would..
Excellence is its own reward!
Are you really serious about this?
How can you withstand the desire to plug that baby in and see if something happens.
There's no question that it simply has to go, but.........
if you don't try it, you'll (we'll) never know what it's for.View Image
6 Meg is way to high for any useful load. At 120 Volts, it would pull 120/6,000,000 Amps = 0.2 mA. That would be 24 milliWatts of power. You're probably seeing the resistance of the cut end of the romex stuck in wet concrete or wet soil, perhaps with some extra insulation damage along the way.
The thing to do is chisel out a little bit so you can cut it off below the concrete surface, then patch over the area to match the surrounding concrete.
-- J.S.
Are you on septic? Could be an effluent pump to the drain field.
JP said it isn't plugged in, I think something would have backed up by now.
And if his septic is wired with a extension cord pour into concrete, He's got problems!!
I would just plug it in & watch the show.
PJE
My last house had a similar mystery wire.
I built a workshop on a concrete RV pad in the back yard. When I dug the trench to run power out to the shop I found a piece of standard 12-2 wire buried. No power on the wire, couldn't figure out where it came from. Neighbor thought the original owner had buried a piece of wire he plugged into the exterior outlet when he wanted power to his RV pad. Then likely cut the end off and buried it when he sold the house. Pretty common thing for people to do, even if it's not particularly safe.
I'd just cut the end off, not the proper type of wire or ran properlly anyway.
Hmm. Pictures would probably help (or not hurt). Quick-and-dirty method: cheapie disposable camera, and ask for prints on CD. Ok, forum tech ends, back to thread.
The other end of this cable terminates in a male plug near an outlet. So, my question is, you're sitting on the deck & don't want to get up--so what is it that you want to be able to plug in without getting up (or stubbing in a switch properly)?
So, what would Bubba do (the owner before last, if the last said "dunno" when asked)? Probably not a ceiling fan, but some sort of lighting, or a water feature, perhaps?
The mystery is compelling (as was noted earlier). Portable generator on the plug, or an inverter on a battery--just to see--would be sore tempting. Hmm, did last owner buy before or after Y2K? If it was after, wonder if it's the connection to the y2k bunker . . . ?
We have a wire coming low out of the house onto a little connection box on the wall, no plug and from there down to about 4" below ground.
From there bare wire for some 40', across a road to a small street light kind of feature by a rock.
If someone ever takes that light out, whoever finds that wire there will be scratching their head as the restuccoing job covered that one box, after I disconnected the wire as unsafe 20+ years ago when I uncovered it while grading that road.
Maybe you have something similar there, if it is not hot now.
So I couldn't resist - I plugged it in (that involved a 2x4 and pre-dialing 9-1...).
Nothing.
So just for curiosity sake - here are the photos. I guess I will just snip it and put a little cement over the top. The only comment I heard that concerned me is the septic tank pump. I do have a septic tank, is that really a possibility?
Thanks for the help though! (I was really rooting for all the Christmas lights to come on when I plugged it in... but alas no...)"One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions"
If it was for septic pump and it's been unplugged alll this time, you'd have noticed it, believe me.
Excellence is its own reward!
Well my newest gues, after seeing the pix, is that a pervious owners had a hot tub. Then they put in a deck. the "other" end of the wire vanished into the yard after the tub left.
Clip the wire close. Use a hammer drill & a masonry bit to make a neat hole, and fill with non-expanding grout.
Just my 2 cent's worth.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
We can all learn a lesson from this: Add a mystery wire or pipe here and there to your work. It makes life more interesting for future owners. ; )Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
It makes life more interesting for future owners.
LoL!
Ok, I'm going to label a hunk of romex "Fallout Shelter Back Up--Do Not Disconnect" and find a place for it . . . :DOccupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
This could be some real fun.
How able installing a door in a wall, but sealing it and putting DW over the other side.
Or stick framing the roof, but take some scrap 2x and some of the metal nail plates and make it look like a truss roof that some one chopped up.
Now you are reminding me of the infamous "Winchester" house!
I say infamous, but WAH!!! it's the one I want to build!Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
I found some storms in a wall here. Who needs DW, just use panelling, and put the china cabinet over there...the wall's kinda soft.
Mike
It has one of 2 things on the end of it;
1) A concrete vibrator
OR
2) the radio he was listening to when he was pouring the concrete
Actually, now that I think of it.....................That is how you install the latest version of snipe lure. He must have been a big snipe hunter to bring them right into the yard like that. Now all you have to do is plug it in and wait for an hour or so with a pillowcase to bag the snipe with. You can get ALOT of money for snipe hide nowadays!!!
No Soap, Radio!
I got it!
They'd plug in the cord to act as a safety cable-that way when the deck was really loaded, it couldn't pull out the piffin screws they used to screw it to the house!
The sags between staples just allow a little flex....yeah, that's the ticket.
Mike