What to do with this sketchy wiring connection from previous homeowner

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AdrianeS

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I have a 100-year-old house that has been partially rewired but some knob and tube still exists. I've installed GFCI outlets on the old circuits and am adding a dual function breaker for some protection until I can afford to have the rest of the knob and tube replaced. While inspecting the wiring in my basement I came across a dangerous looking connection and I'm wondering what I can do to make it safer. The new wiring was spliced off of existing k&t and feeds the outlet for my gas stove. Why they didn't just install a new circuit and run it from the breaker box is beyond me. You can see where someone just pulled back the ground wire and it's just dangling in the air next to the floor joists. Is there any way to ground the wire? Shouldn't these connections be in a junction box? The light switch in the picture I don't use and wouldn't mind removing it completely. Thanks in advance for your replies!
Sketchy wiring.jpg
 
Yes the connection should have been contained in "J" boxes and you could continue the grnd. conductor, and clamp it to a proven grnd. connection.

When you elect to eliminate the K&T, save the tubes, they are ceramic and excellent knife sharpening devices.
 
Yes the connection should have been contained in "J" boxes and you could continue the grnd. conductor, and clamp it to a proven grnd. connection.

When you elect to eliminate the K&T, save the tubes, they are ceramic and excellent knife sharpening devices.
Thanks for your reply! If I lengthen the ground wire, where or how can I run it to a safe ground connection? The breaker box is just a few feet away, could I run it straight to the box and ground it there?
 
It's advantages to post panoramic views, of the subject matter, as well as close-ups so questions like this are filtered.

Is your breaker box, also, the service inlet, or is the service primary connection, and the meter, on the exterior of the dwelling?

Does the breaker box contain a main breaker?

Is the area around the breaker box covered in a finished surface material?
 
It's advantages to post panoramic views, of the subject matter, as well as close-ups so questions like this are filtered.

Is your breaker box, also, the service inlet, or is the service primary connection, and the meter, on the exterior of the dwelling?

Does the breaker box contain a main breaker?

Is the area around the breaker box covered in a finished surface material?
You're right about the pictures but I'm learning as I go here lol!

the breaker box is inside the basement, about 20 feet from the sketchy wiring connections.

The meter is outside.

The breaker box is newer, thankfully, and does have a main breaker. It is all enclosed in a standard Siemens circuit breaker box.
 
Thanks, and are the walls around the breaker box covered in a finished surface material?
 
Add a metal box to the side of the joist and splice the yellow wire to a new piece of wire running over to your breaker box and connect to a breaker there.
 
Lots of times in these old homes some K&T wiring was left during an upgrade where it ran thru a finished lath and plaster wall and or ceiling between the basement and the first floor. Reason being some of these ceilings had ornate plaster work and it isn’t easy to open enough holes to pull new wire and once you start cutting horse hair plaster and lath the repaired area tends to grow.



You can see from your photo the two wires going thru the tubes in the joists are a good foot apart and that pair is for the same circuit. The idea being space is a good insulation and whenever that work was done all but the yellow wire it was pretty standard to tie into K&T just as you have shown with the wrapped and soldered joints. The yellow wire with the plastic nail in staple thing looks to be recent home owners wiring. They were too lazy to go back to the panel to get a feed point and tapped into the first thing they found. I would follow the yellow wire also and see what it is powering and if the circuit and the wire are proper for that load. Depending on what is being fed off the non grounded stuff you may want to bring them up to code by adding a GFCI outlet.
 
I'd like a panoramic photo of the service panel to see if it a surface mount, with exposed feeds, or lodged in a wall cavity and the wall area finished, which would then require breaking and patching.

With the exposed floor joist, there could be a water pipe available, as a provable grnd., and wouldn't require any breaking and patching, just a single conductor and a clamp.
 

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