I finally understood after sparking up an old junction box

I was thinking back to when I first started, and how we just ran coax everywhere without much thought. The other day, I got called to an old house for a cable upgrade. I assumed it would be easy, like the old days. But when I started drilling, I hit a bundle of phone lines from the 80s that were still live. Sparks flew, and the customer's landline went dead. It made me realize how much has changed with all the old systems still in place. Now I always scan with a detector first, something we never did back then. It's a different world now, with more stuff hidden in the walls.

4 comments

4 Comments

emery9511mo ago

Wait, let's not make this a bigger deal than it is. Old phone lines are LOW voltage DC, so a spark big enough to see is PRETTY rare. I've worked in houses from the 70s and never had an issue just cutting them. The real worry is hitting actual power lines, but for phone wires, a detector seems like overkill most of the time.

graya281mo ago

Huh, that's wild, but old phone lines usually don't spark when you hit them. They're low power, so cutting them might just kill the line without any big sparks. You're right though, all that old stuff hidden in walls makes scanning really important now.

uma_jenkins311mo ago

Read somewhere that some of those old lines can still carry enough voltage to surprise you though. Makes me wonder what else is still live in there.

the_spencer1mo ago

You say scanning is really important, but is it? Most of that old wiring is dead. How many people are actually getting hurt by phone lines from the 70s? It feels like we're getting scared of a problem that barely exists.