What up

Need some help with this one. Found knob & tube in attic that tested positive for current with non contact meter. (house was 76 years old-updated electrical to 200 amp) Found attached leg wire spliced in and stapled to foiled faced retarder in attic. Could not locate the second part of the knob & tube (return wire) but may have been under the foil. Any ideas besides a foiled arson attempt.

Found live knob and tube in attic .
Recommend it be removed immediately by a qualified person .

Possible bootleg ground was my first reaction. Not really sure of another reason really. Hopefully the guru’s can give you the help you require. Also what Roy said.

Assuming that you’re showing the neutral conductor in photos #3 & #4, my best guess is that someone was trying to bond the metal foil even though that sounds pretty crazy.

IMO knob and tube is obsolete and should be removed but again that’s only my opinion.

You did your job by finding it, now you need to recommend further evaluation and correction from a licensed/certified electrician.

Thanks for the input guys…I already recommended repairs by qualified licensed electrician…just kind of curious what the attempt was and if anyone had seen something like this before. I was also thinking of some sort of bond to the foil but just didn’t make sense to me.

Most of the time, I too am fascinated by the “why’s” behind some decisions, but by looking at the horrible splice there, and the attempt to bond the neutral to the foil, all I can conclude is that it was done by a person who is, at the very least, very unfamiliar with how household electricity works.
And with that in mind, deciphering their reasoning is futile. They could have been trying to shield their thoughts from the aliens, or implement what they read somewhere about “bonding all metal parts”…

Are you sure that the k&t was live? I was checking one in an attic recently and it made my non contact tester beep like it was stuck in a live receptacle.
I realized that it could not be live when I found that it had been cut on both ends and that I could see the entire length of it. I think it was just a static charge.

Both ends entered under the foil so I could not see where it went. I agree that non contact volt meters can be very sensitive at times and detect trace voltage but I could not confirm that it was not live, so I would rather be safe than sorry. No matter what the set up it was unusual and warranted further investigation. Was a sellers inspection with the client living in the home for over 30 years…he had no idea what it was for. I like the alien idea…or maybe they were trying to heat the foil…ha ha

Jokes aside though, Klein Tools has a $20 non-touch tester that I use, and it’s pretty reliable.
It has two levels of sensitivity, and on the “less sensitive” setting I never had “false positives”.
Check out your nearest big box building supplies store – they should have it…
Not putting down the one that you have, but like others said, less expensive “sniffers” tend to go off because of static or induced voltage sometimes.

Make shift antenna? AM/FM reception would be great.:smiley: