[CoconutPete]

I've noticed this on a couple of different joists in my unfinished basement. At first I flat out thought it was just a piece of twine that was clamped to the joists, but yesterday I noticed what is apparently the insulation broken in one spot exposing a single copper wire. These look as old as the house (1930).

I can't really seem to track them to a destination but I did find 2 of them running through a hole in the rim joist to the outside, but there is no corresponding hole in the siding outside.

Any idea what this is / was for?

 

[rossfingal]

A potential, fire hazard?!?
Are they live?

"RF"

 

[CoconutPete]

Well it certainly doesn't carry high voltage, I honestly forgot to test for low.

The wire is very thin BTW, think ipod headphones after it has split into L/R and imagine just one of the sides - that's how thin it is.

 

[joecaption]

Sounds like door bell wiring.

 

[md2lgyk]

Sounds like door bell wiring.

Or someone's long ago attempt to add a ground to ungrounded outlets. The ground wire used to be much thinner than the other two conductors.

 

[joed]

Sounds like door bell wiring to me also. Can you post a picture of the wire and anything it might be connected to. Might be telephone as well.

 

[SuperJETT]

What size are you walking about, very thin? Like the others mentioned, probably doorbell wiring. One of our previous houses was built around 1907 and was originally a 700sq ft shotgun but was 1800sq ft when we lived there. It had been changed tons, including where the outside doors were, so there was old doorbell wiring, etc etc throughout the place.

 

[Wildie]

I had a house that was built in 1911 and it had a single wire running outside and it terminated on a porcelain terminal block. Originally, an outside antenna was connected to it.
At one time the other end went to the family radio. Radio's at that time were usually tri-band tuners. Short wave, broadcast and long wave!

 

[CoconutPete]

I don't think it's telephone. I have found 2 diff. types of telephone wires in the house. The "modern" one which was obviously added after the fact and the older 3-wire style with the metal junction boxes - it doesn't look like any of those.

There is a doorbell transformer still present - it looks old, I honestly have no clue when it's from, but both it and the doorbell work fine and this wire in question is not near either of them.

It's not near any electrical boxes, so I don't think it's a grounding attempt either.

The radio thing sounds interesting.

I'll get some pictures later.

 

[joed]

I missed that it was a single wire. Either an antenna or a piece of knob and tube electrical wiring. Do you have a non contact voltage tester to see if it is live?

 

[CoconutPete]

Pics:

 

[Missouri Bound]

Old telephone grounding wire?

 

[Wildie]

Old telephone grounding wire?

I agree! The tip off is the cable mounting loops! Standard issue for phone wiring!

 

[chrisn]

]I agree[/COLOR]! The tip off is the cable mounting loops! Standard issue for phone wiring!

me too,I have the same in this house

 

[CoconutPete]

So by "old" telephone grounding wire, you mean they went along with the old 3-wire phone lines with the metal junction boxes which were replaced with the 4-wire ones later on right?

At a later time I want to move a duct on the other side of the basement, one of these things is in the way. It sounds like it would be OK to just chop this?

Where do you think the 2 that run through that hole in the rim joist go anyway?

 

[Wildie]

So by "old" telephone grounding wire, you mean they went along with the old 3-wire phone lines with the metal junction boxes which were replaced with the 4-wire ones later on right?

At a later time I want to move a duct on the other side of the basement, one of these things is in the way. It sounds like it would be OK to just chop this?

Where do you think the 2 that run through that hole in the rim joist go anyway?

The one through the rim joist likely went to a ground rod.

Party line ringing required a ground connection as as one party's phone would be rung over wire #1 to ground, the other over wire #2 to ground.

This method originated when everybody had a phone with a built in ringing generator. These were known as MAGNETO phones.
I have one of these old phones out in my garage.

 

[CoconutPete]

Fellow DIY'ers. I was wrong!

Consumed with curiosity I put forth some effort last night to trace the [email protected] thing. It IS a doorbell wire. For some reason it turns from "modern" looking wire a few feet after the transformer to this ancient looking stuff shortly after. It's a single wire because it runs from the transformer towards the front of the house, up (to the doorbell button i assume), back down, around the house, out the rim joist (to a ground rod based on previous comments) back in, around the back of the house, up into the kitchen (to the actual bell probably) back down and round the other side of the house back to the transformer.

I thank you all for helping me solve this problem. Now I will leave it alone rather than tear it out.

 

[av-geek]

I am thinking this is some sort of radio antenna wire too based on the way it doubles back on itself. It may also be a radio earth ground wire too. It attached to a terminal on the back of the radio beside the antenna terminal and bonded the radio's chassis to earth ground, improving recieption and reducing interference

 

[operagost]

Might want to fix the bare spot, though...

 

[ddawg16]

You think it's a door bell wire....in reality, it's an antenna that transmits thought control waves into your house.......

"Surf DIY....Surf DIY.....Surf DIY"

The fact that your here is proof that it's working.