[awl98]

Hi, I have some outlets that are still connected to old wiring. The house was built around 1900 almost all of the wiring has been replaced with Plastic NM and NM-B but a few outlets/receptacles have not. It seams in pretty good condition, the copper wires are wrapped in plastic with no ground, the outer jacket is braided and silver and reads, NON METALLIC SHEATHED CABLE - PLASTIC- CIRCLE WIRE AND CABLE CORP - CIRTEX- TYPE 12-2. It powers a light switch going to an exterior light, and 2 outlets. One of the outlets is powering a small tv, radio, and cable box. The previous owner didnt bother to replace these receptacles because it is so hard to access. To rewire you would have to go through and old window well in the basement, into a crawl space (there is bearly any room to crawl and crawl to the other side of the space. The previous owner did install three prong outlets on this old wiring. Should this be replaced? Just how Old is this stuff? :confused1:

Heres some photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8478033674/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8476944033/in/photostream/

 

[Kyle_in_rure]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. This "braided" wire was probably installed in the 1950s, when it was popular. As long as everything is wired correctly there shouldn't be any concerns. However, if this old cable doesn't have a ground wire, you CANNOT have 3-prong grounded outlets on these circuits

 

[awl98]

Thanks! Can I replace the 3 pronged outlets to a GFCI outlet and still meet code.

 

[Kyle_in_rure]

I believe you can, but you have to put the "no equipment ground" stickers that come with GFCIs on these outlets, since no ground will be present.
Do keep i mind, however, that if the outlet boxes are older, they may be of smaller size and a GFCI may not fit well.