A retired electrician in a hardware store aisle gave me the best tip for old cloth wiring

I was in a Home Depot in Tacoma about two years ago, trying to figure out the best way to handle some old cloth covered wire in a 1920s house. This older guy, maybe in his seventies, saw me looking at the modern connectors and just said, 'You're gonna want to use a piece of heat shrink over that before you cap it.' He explained that the old cloth gets brittle and can flake off inside a wire nut, leaving a bad connection or even a short. He told me to slide a short piece of clear heat shrink tubing over the stripped end first, make my splice, then slide the tubing down and hit it with a heat gun. It seals the old insulation and keeps everything tight. I've used that trick on at least a dozen old house jobs since then. Has anyone else run into a better method for dealing with that really crumbly old cloth stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_drew2mo ago

That heat shrink trick is genius, wish I'd known it before my own "let there be smoke" incident.

-1

owens.anthony2mo ago

Saw a video where a guy used heat shrink on some speaker wire connections in his car door. The constant moisture and movement had messed up his old tape job. He said the heat shrink sealed it up tight, no more corrosion or shorts. Makes total sense for any spot that gets wet or vibrates a lot. That kind of permanent fix beats electrical tape every time.

smith.parker2mo ago

Seriously? It's just a speaker wire... how much moisture are we talking about here, a car wash or a flood? I've had tape last for years in doors with no issues, just wrap it tight. Heat shrink seems like overkill unless you're building a submarine or something.