Excellent video: to the point, good lighting, no obnoxious music, no stammering, stuttering, stumbling. Five stars and a master class on video presentation. Thank you.
Fantastic video - I am a master electrician that primarily works with high voltage critical infrastructure, this video is proof that you never stop learning in our trade. I had no idea of the history of NMD or they made flat 3 wire NMD cables. 5 minutes of my life well spent :) thanks John!
I'm not a Pro im a DIYer and i love the fact that the companies are taking the initiative on this it will really help keeping things identify able when i rewire my 1901 home (not a Pro but been doing small wiring jobs since i was 5.🤣)
I really enjoyed the fact you listed the history of NM cable, found that even more interesting than going over the new jacket color codes which I've began to notice earlier this month while shopping at my local home depot. I never realized it's history traces it's roots to a couple of years before 1925, because I've helped with several remodel projects over the years in Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina, and every home I've been in that was built in the 1930s or before had remnants of knob and tube, along with the early cotton braid NM. A few homes I've seen were before the 1920s and skipped knob and tube altogether and went straight to the 1st gen NM because the house was in a rural area where electricity was unavailable until the end of WWII. The farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan with the deadly Chicago 3 way for the yardlight installed in the early 50s I mentioned in that video about a month ago, was built in 1908, yet there was no evidence of knob and tube when I was trying to figure out that 3 way, because electricity was unavailable until 1951 according to the farmer. There was however, lots of cotton or rayon braid NM cable in the basement, although I don't recall any of it being 3 wire, which kinda makes me wonder if there were other Chicago 3 ways in the house, considering it was wired by the father and grandfather of the farmer, and they experienced the harsh economic times of the 1930s and a major advantage of Chicago 3 ways were that they could keep constant power on both ends while switching a luminaire using 3 wires instead of four.
Interesting info my friend. You know I'm not sure if the early romex offered a 3-wire option. I'll have to look into that. I don't think I have ever seen one either.
@@BackyardMaine very interesting. If circa 1950 NM was only made in 2 wire version, then my guess would be that the 3 way switches in that farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan were all the deadly Chicago method using a single stranded conductor like THHN or something like that from each switch box to the light?? Unless of course the other 3 ways were added later on after the introduction of 3 wire NM. None of that ever crossed my mind when I was working there because I was so frustrated with trying to figure out how that yardlight would get blown with 240V in one of the four switch positions, before it dawned on me that the farmer did move some breakers around in the barn to make room for a 2 pole 20 to power the air compressor he just brought, when the yardlight dilemma started. I would like to hope and believe everyone in that house knew enough to wear rubber gloves or turn the breaker off before fiddling with a "de-energized" light fixture 🥶😯
@@BackyardMaine Early romex did indeed have a 3 wire version. I have seen a few houses here in Canada that were wired in the 1930s. The 3-way switches at the top and bottom of staircases would use 14-3 romex with cloth and rubber insulation on the individual wires. We refer to this early romex as second generation wiring since it came after knob and tube which was first generation. By the 1950s houses moved to NM cable with 60 C rated conductors. Individual conductors had plastic insulation but the whole cable assembly was now wrapped in synthetically spun rayon. During the 50s romex with undersized ground wires started to appear as well. It is called NMD-3 with ground and was initially only used for major appliance circuits as well as circuits feeding outlets on exterior walls. By the early 60s grounding was required everywhere so NMD-3 with ground became the standard. In the late 60s- early 70s NMD-5 and NMD-7 were introduced. These still had the synthetically spun rayon but the individual conductors were now rated for 75 and 90 C respectively. NM or romex cable with a PVC outer jacket did not become common until the 1980s here. I don't know if it's just me or does that old romex with the synthetically spun rayon jacket have a very unique smell to it. I have heard theories that the grease they put on the jacket would come from beetles. Also, fun fact, in Canada we didn't adopt GFCIs until later and they are still not required in laundry rooms or garages.
I just bought some 14-3 for a ceiling fan wire and noticed the new colors and was wondering when it happened. Thank you for the info and the history lesson
This excellent video just might have scored a new total points record from me on UA-cam. Masterfully researched. Dense. Perfect presentation. No silly music. Top-notch graphics. Thank you.
I've lived in houses with all the older style of cables and even knob and tube. I really like the new color coding and flat cable. Also, excellent video, no fluff, no music, and no fumbling or stuttering around. Very considerate of my time.
Thank you for this video, and the wire history lesson. My house was built in 1921, I redid 80-90% of the wiring, mainly because it still had a lot of knob and tube, but it also had two other types of cables used because two sets of renovations were done before I started. With this I can now confirm the era they were done.
I’m old enough to have worked with all of the designs you described up to the 2024 updates. Home electrical is not my profession so the timeline and specifics escaped me. I found this video very informative and interesting. You do a great job with your videos!
Grew up in a house built in 1920 (60 Amp was original service). In addition to the original knob-n-tube wiring for lighting, I saw everyone one of the NM types shown by John (lived that history).
was a buider mostly residential...lot of remodels...saw progression from knob and tube thru the original colors...also the added protection of grounding including reguiring switchs have a grd...good informative video
Like your videos. I am a retired commercial electrician from Florida and your videos are concise, to the pertinent point, and informative. Keep it up. I am up in Maine now fixing the code violations in my daughter's house in Penobscot. What that really means is gut and replace. 100 amp to 200 amp (Load calc came to 175) and Versant ran a new triplex supply to my newly installed Siemens Combo Meter Can/Disconnect and a new Siemens 200 amp PN Series 40/60 space panel. I found every metal junction box in the house, including switch boxes with no wire nuts, just the wires twisted into a mangled ball and taped; the ground wires were not bonded to the boxes, switches with not ground wire to the ground lug on the switch (yes they are self grounding switches but they were in a plastic box so they still need the grounds. I found 12 ga circuits feeding the basement with14 ga wires tapped off of it to feed the lights. That is a short list (they did not seem to know about the 6 ft. receptacle rule) but I am glad that there are guys like you here in Maine doing it right! Thanks again for your videos.
Here's another mind blower, you can order individual conductors of thhn in purple. It's mostly used to pull travelers on commercial jobs. However, it's also sometimes used in control circuits.
Thanks for mentioning the underground color of gray. I can just imagine how I would feel if I was enjoying the information about the colors and then be stumped or have misconceptions if I'd come across the gray.
The US doesn't use armoured cable for outdoor and underground cabling. Always surprised by that. Maybe it will eventually catch on. It's used in Europe, particularly Britain - maybe it's because UK wiring is 240V as standard.
@@mb-3faze that's because our armored cable is both susceptible to corrosion, and not waterproof. why bother putting armored cable in the ground, when the armor will dissolve into dust? and it's prohibitively expensive to make AC with seamless stainless steel armor. if we need better protection than UF provides, we run conduit. and really, conduit is the norm, and UF is reserved for applications where it's too difficult to run the conduit; or where the installer wants to be as cheap as possible.
@@kenbrown2808 The British standards organization ensure that armored cable is corrosion resistant and waterproof. Sometimes the armor is aluminum but either way similar cable is used for under-sea applications. Britain is hardly a dry place. Most often buried cables are constantly damp. Putting the physical protection on the cable itself saves installation time and costs over conduit. Armored cable is available in the US - just not often used in residential applications. Different countries, different regulations.
I was very confused when I bought some wire for a project at my sister's and it ended up being purple. Really threw me off. Glad to get done clarity on this subject. Great video. Straight to the point and I enjoyed some of the history lesson.
Great timeline and information. You have the gift of clear explanation.. I recall that back in 1983/84, the jackets of NM cable also included black, and, IIRC, blue (less common). But the jacket color did not identify the guage as we see today. I recall seeing homes wired in all black NM cable..
Yes. I have seen light blue and green in thermoplastic insulation. 60s and 70s era is my guess. My friend's pole barn shop was wired with that green braided Romex. It was built sometime in the 60s.
Serendipitous information. I am renovating the 1940s cottage I grew up in and finding at least three different generations of circuitry. Original cloth covered, white, and the more recent yellow and orange!
Great presentation, just the facts. Somewhere, since 1973, I came across some 2 wire 12 or 14 plain rubber covered copper conductors with a lead sheath. I saved a piece and do find mention of it as a predecessor of UF. I did rework some very old places in the 70's/80's.
We’re just finishing up a camp on the lake near us for a customer. I needed a little 14/3 and grabbed it Friday, and it was blue. Actually I’ve always liked the color change because I could easily count cables by color to get breaker counts, and now on 3 ways and 4 ways I can tell from across the room if a wire is run. Love it
1) Loved the Info and the history, thanks. 2) Hooray for flat 3-wire NM cable. 😀 There goes another skill I mastered onto the “no longer needed” pile.😢
Great history lesson, Thank you. I used to think that the color coding was for electricians that weren't smart enough to read the printing on the jacket or weren't experienced enough to be able to recognize the difference in gauges. That's why residential electricians were referred to a "Romex Jockey's"
Great video! I am only used to the European NYM type, 3 conductor and 5 conductor cables. They are all round and not color coded. I like the color coding for the NM type.
Wow, I just stumbled onto this video, but it was very informative and down to business without a lot of crap or repeating itself. Well done, I liked it so much I subscribed. I'll be sure to check out some of your other vids when I get some extra time.
I think NM cable has been around even earlier. I help with maintenance for a building (commercial) built in 1909. The place was fitted with rigid conduit from the beginning. Most of the building was rewired in the 1990's, but there were a couple areas that were abandoned. I pulled the wire out of a section of the conduit and it had what looked like early NM cable: woven outer jacket and tarred woven insulation on the individual conductors inside. You couldn't tell which was white or black (if there was a difference). I don't think that any of the building was rewired at any point prior to the 1990's. When the rest of the building was rewired it still had fused neutral ceramic fuse blocks with individual knife switches on each circuit in hand built asbestos panel box.
Since it was in conduit, could it have been the time equivalent to basically lamp cords? I've seen some antique lamps and radios from around that time with exactly the wire you describe.
That's old cloth wrapped rubber core wire, which is what they had to pull through the rigid conduit. It's not a cable it is individual conductors, although the cloth wrap makes it look similar to the earliest NM cable albeit smaller. I see the rigid conduit and cloth wrapped wire in my area in structures built from the 1920's right up through the early 1940's. The pipe was bent with what is now called a "hickey" bender and often doesn't have the correct radius as well as flattened diameter, making it sometimes difficult to use a standard fish tape. The cloth wrapped rubber insulation is infamous for crumbling at the slightest disturbance.
I was recently wondering if smaller wire would start being used for lighting circuits with led lighting becoming the norm 14/2 seems like overkill for most residential lighting applications. I’m not an electrician but I am capable of basic wiring.
@michaelmolter8828 > Considering 16 AWG is getting added to the 2024 NEC, You poor buggers - that stuff breaks if you just look at it funny. When you start finding that you need to put bootlace ferrules onto the ends of conductors to stop terminal screws from slicing through them, you start thinking "why so bleeping thin?".
@@michaelmolter8828 > @byronn.2885 I think lighting circuits is the plan along with new 10A breakers. In the UK, lighting circuits have been 6A breakers, and before that 5A fuses, for ever. I still prefer to use 1.5mm² cable.
@@byronn.2885 Most houses combine receptacles and lights on a single circuit rather than adding an entire extra run all the way back. And in a lot of cases where they are really being pennywise and pound foolish, or old houses, they don't even bother with ceiling-lamp outlets and expect the occupant to plug in stand-alone lamps.(Possibly a split/half-switched outlet where a wall switch near the door is required by code.) It's not how I would have my house wired, but it is cheap.
Loved the history. I had just researched the history of the name Romex last year, I was just curious. But great to see it again. If I recall correctly, Southwire bought the brand name from Rome Wire when Rome cable was needing money but my memory could certainly be incorrect. My Dad started building the house I now own in 1948. The earlier rooms had the old cloth NM covered with a black tar like substance. Later rooms had the more familiar green NM. All of the wires has the think ground in (my Dad thought ahead on safety and was a fan of grounding before most). I always wondered why there were always two NM cables for 3 way switches (1 conductor unused) and I just thought he used what he had since money was tight, It never occurred to me that 3 conductor wasn't available back then. I've since rewired one wide of the house and starting the other side soon. The entire house was originally on four fuses even though the panel was changed to breakers in the 60s. The UF cable from about 1959 or 1960 is all gray. When they added the yellow and orange, I always wondered why they didn't add a color for 14 gauge, which would mean anything white would have to be checked for the gauge. I can feel the gauge by bending it, but I know some people struggle with some white being 14 and some being 12. I also wished all manufactures insulated the ground wire with green insulation. I do have some cable from the 60's like that. Sometimes it would be nice to not have all those bare wires floating around such as in some panels. I wonder what color 16 will be? Thank you for great content and including the history which was icing on the cake.
They really should standardize the color codes across the board! Would make it better for everyone involved. I don't see what the problem is in doing this. Thanks for vid!
I just picked up some 12/3 romex and was surprised to see it was purple. It does make sense to be able to identify it later on in life, especially if it was a different homeowner than the one who installed it.
I like the idea of the color coding and especially the flat wire part. Thanks for the history lesson. I have a friend when he built his house he had the electrician run 3 wire for every circuit. I was there when he did it and he said he wanted to future proof the house as much as he could. The electrician looked at him and started to tell him he was crazy but then said ok. I knew the electrician who later asked me why but said ok it’s his money… I was not involved in any decisions or anything like that but my friend told me a few weeks ago that that decision has paid off several times. I asked him if the cost difference then has offset using an electrician to run new circuits or change a circuit and he said absolutely. He said that decision has saved him money. It’s not a decision I would have made but copper wiring was considerably cheaper then.
I noticed the light blue back in February before i switched over to the utility side, thought it was pretty neat. Definitely helped me with organization and identification
I've got old Romex in my house. Looking at the styles you've got, it's good to know that was probably from the 1950's or so. I've had it on my list of things to fix. One of the last houses I was in still had decommissioned knob and tube wiring in the house. I'm pretty sure it was disconnected, but when I put a multimeter on it there was still around 15V ac on it. It was weird.
Working in plastics for a short time led me to realize that some colors are selected because of the lines that run certain colors in the plant. For instance, if you mix orange and blue, you get gray. So run a blue line near an orange line, regrind can go in either (in the middle layer). This works for a lot of colors. Similarly, changing colors was easier from blue to orange. I would imagine, some of the colors you see in various similar plastics are based on the colors available mixed, ratios controlled by servos in the hoppers.
I can only imagine the home buyers asking for the colors they prefer! Thanks for the history my house still has some ceramic tube wiring, my days are numbered for sure.
This was interesting. I know my house was built in the 60s. Some of the wiring is that fabric insulated type, but they have a thin (definitely smaller than 14 gauge) aluminum ground. The hot and neutral conductor are both copper. From the info here, it seems like it was likely built between 62 and 65.
Is anyone in the trade actually using 16 gauge? Or is it just a Canadian thing stickin to 14 gauge min on any 120v + circuits? Or are you wiring 12v DC led's on that 16 gauge?
Will that go along with a 10A breaker? It makes sense to use less copper if you are just wasting it running LED lights that have about 1/6 the power requirements. Copper is expensive and it is probably only going to keep increasing.
John, thanks for that great explanation of the new colors. You pondered if other manufacturers would pick up on what Rome Mfg has done; well, it's been my experience that when there is technology like this, it is far better for everyone to jump on the same bandwagon ASAP, otherwise the government will step in. And you know what happens when 535 raisins start poking into things they have no direct knowledge of. On the other hand, as was the case with Apple (much to their chagrin), new mobile devices are required to use USB-C instead of the lightning cable in this case. I think that was a good change. :)
i was surprised myself when i found out the changes on the Romex cable when i added a circuit to my garage for my welder last sunday, Pretty cool stuff😄!
Thank you, John ... great content and presentation, as always. Really enjoyed hearing the history and keeping up with the changes. Do you anticipate another new color coming for smaller (16 or 18) ga wire to run LED branches? Maybe we should start a pool to guess what color they'll use ... something in a periwinkle or aquamarine perhaps?? Personally, I think barber pole red-white-blue would be nice. 🙂 Thanks again for the great work!! 42-Jack
I’ve dealt with that original type NM with the tar/cloth sheathing. Because it’s been installed so long it’s often dried out and very easily damaged. If there’s room in the box I’ll cut back and pigtail just to minimize future problems. I’ll also sometimes reinforce:protect the individual wires by slipping heat shrink over them. As for 12 and 14 ga. I generally only use 12 because I figure it’s a small price to pay for more efficient delivery in the long run and is less likely to fail should a breaker be out of spec and not trip until after it should have.
As a fellow electrician I enjoyed the history portion. I've had the pleasure of running into all sorts of wire over the years. Three of the more interesting nm ones that stand out in memory: copper wire with an aluminum ground one white and one red conductor (vs standard one white one black) and a decently rare I've only seen a handful of times is one with an extra long undersized ground. It was bent into numerous right angles, basically a row of endless triangles, so when you stripped it you could straighten it and have extra length. Those 3 oddballs I can say I've collectively seen maybe different times. Everything else under the sun is commonplace. Always on the lookout for something new though.
My kitchen was remodeled in the 60's and actually has black vinyl 12/2 with 16g ground conductors. So apparently there was some overlap between moving from the cloth wire and ground wire size requirements. The sunroom that was later built onto the kitchen also has black vinyl 12/2 but with 12g ground wire, that was done in the early 70's.
I have seen the black and some dark grey as well. Not sure what brand it was though. Mostly it was white but there was some others but nothing was standardized until around 2001.
Never knew that about Rome. I live in an adjoining town. Rome is known as the Copper City. Revere Copper and Brass makes Reverware cookware. Rome Cable, etc. Thanks for the video.
John,After I retired from the USAF and was working for Builders Square in 1993-ish. They paid for a NEC course of me. At the course I learnt that regular people could recommend changes to the code. I emailed my suggestions to the NFPA about the color change. Years latter I saw the color changes I wrote them about. Can I take credit for this? Jerry from McCellean
Maybe you could write again and suggest that they change their white colored romex to something else. In that way, when you do a remodel you know that all white wire is old and you have to check carefully to see what size it is. From a safety POV, it's only the small sizes 14, 12 and maybe 10 that are confusable. Once you up at 8 gauge it's pretty hard to mistake.
my house was built in '73 in NS Canada and has the braided paper sheathing wire "LOOMEX" at 14 and 12ga... mostly 12ga used. the 12ga thermoplastic sheathing wire in my house is red, which you can still buy today, but a friend with a newer home has all yellow 12ga.
The conductor insulation in those old cotton braid cables was rubber,which,over time,would harden and become brittle.Had to apply heat shrink on many rewires,prior to working with it in outlet boxes,to stabilize its integrity.
Dang, this makes me feel old because I realized I bought 250 foot boxes of 14-2 and 12-2 back in 1992 and haven't bought any Romex since then. I didn't even realize that there were new colored sheaths.
My house is behind the capital W in your photo. I came to Rome in 1968. It used to be "The Copper City" but all have gone except Revere (yeah, founded by Paul Revere).
I can see it now, you're wiring an addition and the housewife come up to you and says, I was just at my friends house and she told me they used blue and pink wire in her addition, why aren't you using that in mine? The wire you are using is ugly, can you to change my wire to blue and pink? I couldn't resist. Good video.
@@BackyardMaine One of the happiest days in my work carrier was when my boss said, we were no longer going to do residential work, just commercial/ industrial.
The graphics (timeline, old pictures) are a nice touch. Liked seeing the old stuff as a contrast to how far we've come today.
Thank you..
@@BackyardMaine
Thanks to that chart, I now know that the nm cable in the house I live in was made circa 1950s!😅😢😂
That's it! I'm rewiring to the latest fashions!
🤣😂🤣😂
Excellent video: to the point, good lighting, no obnoxious music, no stammering, stuttering, stumbling. Five stars and a master class on video presentation. Thank you.
Couldn’t agree more. He really has it dialed in and comes across with the goods. Love this channel.
Agree!
And no attempts at playing the clown.
Wow, thank you so much..
Thank you!
Came for the update - stayed for the history lesson! Great video John!
Awesome! Thank you!
Came to the comments to say the same thing!
Fantastic video - I am a master electrician that primarily works with high voltage critical infrastructure, this video is proof that you never stop learning in our trade. I had no idea of the history of NMD or they made flat 3 wire NMD cables. 5 minutes of my life well spent :) thanks John!
I'm not a Pro im a DIYer and i love the fact that the companies are taking the initiative on this it will really help keeping things identify able when i rewire my 1901 home (not a Pro but been doing small wiring jobs since i was 5.🤣)
I really enjoyed the fact you listed the history of NM cable, found that even more interesting than going over the new jacket color codes which I've began to notice earlier this month while shopping at my local home depot.
I never realized it's history traces it's roots to a couple of years before 1925, because I've helped with several remodel projects over the years in Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina, and every home I've been in that was built in the 1930s or before had remnants of knob and tube, along with the early cotton braid NM. A few homes I've seen were before the 1920s and skipped knob and tube altogether and went straight to the 1st gen NM because the house was in a rural area where electricity was unavailable until the end of WWII.
The farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan with the deadly Chicago 3 way for the yardlight installed in the early 50s I mentioned in that video about a month ago, was built in 1908, yet there was no evidence of knob and tube when I was trying to figure out that 3 way, because electricity was unavailable until 1951 according to the farmer. There was however, lots of cotton or rayon braid NM cable in the basement, although I don't recall any of it being 3 wire, which kinda makes me wonder if there were other Chicago 3 ways in the house, considering it was wired by the father and grandfather of the farmer, and they experienced the harsh economic times of the 1930s and a major advantage of Chicago 3 ways were that they could keep constant power on both ends while switching a luminaire using 3 wires instead of four.
Interesting info my friend. You know I'm not sure if the early romex offered a 3-wire option. I'll have to look into that. I don't think I have ever seen one either.
@@BackyardMaine very interesting. If circa 1950 NM was only made in 2 wire version, then my guess would be that the 3 way switches in that farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan were all the deadly Chicago method using a single stranded conductor like THHN or something like that from each switch box to the light?? Unless of course the other 3 ways were added later on after the introduction of 3 wire NM. None of that ever crossed my mind when I was working there because I was so frustrated with trying to figure out how that yardlight would get blown with 240V in one of the four switch positions, before it dawned on me that the farmer did move some breakers around in the barn to make room for a 2 pole 20 to power the air compressor he just brought, when the yardlight dilemma started. I would like to hope and believe everyone in that house knew enough to wear rubber gloves or turn the breaker off before fiddling with a "de-energized" light fixture 🥶😯
@@Sparky-ww5re Those Chicago 3 ways were dangerous because of the switched neutrals which is a big NO NO! today
@@BackyardMaine Early romex did indeed have a 3 wire version. I have seen a few houses here in Canada that were wired in the 1930s. The 3-way switches at the top and bottom of staircases would use 14-3 romex with cloth and rubber insulation on the individual wires. We refer to this early romex as second generation wiring since it came after knob and tube which was first generation. By the 1950s houses moved to NM cable with 60 C rated conductors. Individual conductors had plastic insulation but the whole cable assembly was now wrapped in synthetically spun rayon. During the 50s romex with undersized ground wires started to appear as well. It is called NMD-3 with ground and was initially only used for major appliance circuits as well as circuits feeding outlets on exterior walls. By the early 60s grounding was required everywhere so NMD-3 with ground became the standard. In the late 60s- early 70s NMD-5 and NMD-7 were introduced. These still had the synthetically spun rayon but the individual conductors were now rated for 75 and 90 C respectively. NM or romex cable with a PVC outer jacket did not become common until the 1980s here. I don't know if it's just me or does that old romex with the synthetically spun rayon jacket have a very unique smell to it. I have heard theories that the grease they put on the jacket would come from beetles. Also, fun fact, in Canada we didn't adopt GFCIs until later and they are still not required in laundry rooms or garages.
@@CompGuy66 I haven't done a ton of work in old houses. Thanks for the info.
I just bought some 14-3 for a ceiling fan wire and noticed the new colors and was wondering when it happened. Thank you for the info and the history lesson
My pleasure. Thanks for commenting..
Thank you for providing great, concise information without any extra wording. A joy to listen to.
This excellent video just might have scored a new total points record from me on UA-cam. Masterfully researched. Dense. Perfect presentation. No silly music. Top-notch graphics. Thank you.
I've lived in houses with all the older style of cables and even knob and tube. I really like the new color coding and flat cable. Also, excellent video, no fluff, no music, and no fumbling or stuttering around. Very considerate of my time.
I'm retired Electrician of 40 years you just got me updated. Thanks Sir!
What a simple, yet extensive explanation of NM. As an amateur DIY electrician, this is gold!
Happy you enjoyed the information. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for this video, and the wire history lesson. My house was built in 1921, I redid 80-90% of the wiring, mainly because it still had a lot of knob and tube, but it also had two other types of cables used because two sets of renovations were done before I started. With this I can now confirm the era they were done.
I’m old enough to have worked with all of the designs you described up to the 2024 updates. Home electrical is not my profession so the timeline and specifics escaped me. I found this video very informative and interesting. You do a great job with your videos!
Thank you my friend.
Thanks for keeping us up to date!
You bet! Thanks for watching my videos..
I Dig It, and yes, it makes it easily identifiable from a glance
I love the vertical timeline, that's surprisingly helpful as you're talking.
Short, to the point yet packed with information! LOVED the history lesson and the graphics were on point!
Thank you..
As always, top-quality content. Not to be missed. Thank you!
Much appreciated my friend!
Grew up in a house built in 1920 (60 Amp was original service).
In addition to the original knob-n-tube wiring for lighting,
I saw everyone one of the NM types shown by John (lived that history).
was a buider mostly residential...lot of remodels...saw progression from knob and tube thru the original colors...also the added protection of grounding including reguiring switchs have a grd...good informative video
Wow! I just replaced an outlet in my kitchen and I was so confused why the ground was so thin. House built 1963! Amazing info thank you!
Thanks for the quick history lesson. Interesting to see new colors as well.
Most concise nonverbose explanation of factual material in the industry I've ever seen.
Thank you, John!
Wow, thank you..
Like your videos. I am a retired commercial electrician from Florida and your videos are concise, to the pertinent point, and informative. Keep it up. I am up in Maine now fixing the code violations in my daughter's house in Penobscot. What that really means is gut and replace. 100 amp to 200 amp (Load calc came to 175) and Versant ran a new triplex supply to my newly installed Siemens Combo Meter Can/Disconnect and a new Siemens 200 amp PN Series 40/60 space panel. I found every metal junction box in the house, including switch boxes with no wire nuts, just the wires twisted into a mangled ball and taped; the ground wires were not bonded to the boxes, switches with not ground wire to the ground lug on the switch (yes they are self grounding switches but they were in a plastic box so they still need the grounds. I found 12 ga circuits feeding the basement with14 ga wires tapped off of it to feed the lights. That is a short list (they did not seem to know about the 6 ft. receptacle rule) but I am glad that there are guys like you here in Maine doing it right! Thanks again for your videos.
Thank you again. As always I learn something new from your videos
My pleasure! As always thanks for watching my friend.
here's the mind blower: the color coding wasn't adopted for electricians or inspectors. it was adopted to make inventory control easier.
That makes sense!
Here's another mind blower, you can order individual conductors of thhn in purple. It's mostly used to pull travelers on commercial jobs. However, it's also sometimes used in control circuits.
@@ianbelletti6241 you can also get pink.
@@ianbelletti6241 not really a mind blower. You can order thhn in just about any color you want
@@ianbelletti6241 Interesting
We already had blue cables to identify 15 amp arc protected (AFCI) circuits for the bedrooms...
Thanks for mentioning the underground color of gray. I can just imagine how I would feel if I was enjoying the information about the colors and then be stumped or have misconceptions if I'd come across the gray.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching my friend.
imagine how grumpy I was to find a roll of white UF.
The US doesn't use armoured cable for outdoor and underground cabling. Always surprised by that. Maybe it will eventually catch on. It's used in Europe, particularly Britain - maybe it's because UK wiring is 240V as standard.
@@mb-3faze that's because our armored cable is both susceptible to corrosion, and not waterproof. why bother putting armored cable in the ground, when the armor will dissolve into dust? and it's prohibitively expensive to make AC with seamless stainless steel armor. if we need better protection than UF provides, we run conduit. and really, conduit is the norm, and UF is reserved for applications where it's too difficult to run the conduit; or where the installer wants to be as cheap as possible.
@@kenbrown2808 The British standards organization ensure that armored cable is corrosion resistant and waterproof. Sometimes the armor is aluminum but either way similar cable is used for under-sea applications. Britain is hardly a dry place. Most often buried cables are constantly damp. Putting the physical protection on the cable itself saves installation time and costs over conduit. Armored cable is available in the US - just not often used in residential applications. Different countries, different regulations.
I am just a homeowner who only does minor wiring around the house, but I really found this unexpectedly interesting. Thank you!
Well done video, and it only took five and a half minutes. It's good to see more colors adopted.
Thank you..
Loved you rehashing the history. I have lots of old cable still new in the box from the 60s to current times.
I was very confused when I bought some wire for a project at my sister's and it ended up being purple. Really threw me off. Glad to get done clarity on this subject. Great video. Straight to the point and I enjoyed some of the history lesson.
Thank you..
Great video. Although I’m retired, I still enjoy keeping up with Code changes and new developments in equipment, tools and tech.
Great to hear!
Great timeline and information. You have the gift of clear explanation.. I recall that back in 1983/84, the jackets of NM cable also included black, and, IIRC, blue (less common). But the jacket color did not identify the guage as we see today. I recall seeing homes wired in all black NM cable..
Yes. I have seen light blue and green in thermoplastic insulation. 60s and 70s era is my guess.
My friend's pole barn shop was wired with that green braided Romex. It was built sometime in the 60s.
I have used black.
@@cgschow1971 Thanks. Interesting colors
@@kkarllwt Yes, I remember seeing lots of black too
Serendipitous information. I am renovating the 1940s cottage I grew up in and finding at least three different generations of circuitry. Original cloth covered, white, and the more recent yellow and orange!
Good video...Color coding makes it easier for inspectors and with the three wire additions will also make box fill inspections faster...
I've been doing electrical work since 1972. This is great. Awesome idea and about time.
Great video, you got to the point with no fluff. As an electrician I love to know the history behind my trade.
Great presentation, just the facts. Somewhere, since 1973, I came across some 2 wire 12 or 14 plain rubber covered copper conductors with a lead sheath. I saved a piece and do find mention of it as a predecessor of UF. I did rework some very old places in the 70's/80's.
Great Job as always. Every video I learn something but I’m also reminded that I should always check the standards to be certain.
Thank you..
We’re just finishing up a camp on the lake near us for a customer. I needed a little 14/3 and grabbed it Friday, and it was blue. Actually I’ve always liked the color change because I could easily count cables by color to get breaker counts, and now on 3 ways and 4 ways I can tell from across the room if a wire is run. Love it
This is a great video, I have almost every single one of these wire types in my late 1800’s farmhouse.
Thank you.. Yes, I have worked in some old houses over the years and its always been a history lessen..
1) Loved the Info and the history, thanks.
2) Hooray for flat 3-wire NM cable. 😀 There goes another skill I mastered onto the “no longer needed” pile.😢
Great history lesson, Thank you.
I used to think that the color coding was for electricians that weren't smart enough to read the printing on the jacket or weren't experienced enough to be able to recognize the difference in gauges. That's why residential electricians were referred to a "Romex Jockey's"
neat, I wasn't looking for a video on electrical cables but this was well presented and timely so i watched the whole thing. very well done sir.
Non electrician here. I do some of my own electric basic stuff around home. Excited to learn more from your practical videos.
Welcome aboard!
Love this, John. I was happy when 12/2 went to yellow. Now this is great! I love it when manufacturers take the initiative to make improvements.
I found it interesting when I spotted it on the shelves Ed. I knew I found a video idea.. lol
Great video! I am only used to the European NYM type, 3 conductor and 5 conductor cables. They are all round and not color coded. I like the color coding for the NM type.
Wow, I just stumbled onto this video, but it was very informative and down to business without a lot of crap or repeating itself. Well done, I liked it so much I subscribed. I'll be sure to check out some of your other vids when I get some extra time.
Awesome thank you.
Thanks John! Interesting hisotry.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
I think NM cable has been around even earlier. I help with maintenance for a building (commercial) built in 1909. The place was fitted with rigid conduit from the beginning. Most of the building was rewired in the 1990's, but there were a couple areas that were abandoned. I pulled the wire out of a section of the conduit and it had what looked like early NM cable: woven outer jacket and tarred woven insulation on the individual conductors inside. You couldn't tell which was white or black (if there was a difference). I don't think that any of the building was rewired at any point prior to the 1990's. When the rest of the building was rewired it still had fused neutral ceramic fuse blocks with individual knife switches on each circuit in hand built asbestos panel box.
I check my information with several sources. Maybe the building was wired later when electricity was available in the area?
Since it was in conduit, could it have been the time equivalent to basically lamp cords? I've seen some antique lamps and radios from around that time with exactly the wire you describe.
That's old cloth wrapped rubber core wire, which is what they had to pull through the rigid conduit. It's not a cable it is individual conductors, although the cloth wrap makes it look similar to the earliest NM cable albeit smaller.
I see the rigid conduit and cloth wrapped wire in my area in structures built from the 1920's right up through the early 1940's. The pipe was bent with what is now called a "hickey" bender and often doesn't have the correct radius as well as flattened diameter, making it sometimes difficult to use a standard fish tape. The cloth wrapped rubber insulation is infamous for crumbling at the slightest disturbance.
@@chrisw2995especially if its been cooking behind a ceiling fixture with 3 60w bulbs and "sealing" insulation on top of the fixture.
Thanks, excellent presentation!! I was always wondering what the fabric sheathing in my old wires from the 1960s was made of, now I know.
Thank you..
Interesting. Considering 16 AWG is getting added to the 2024 NEC, I would have thought that would get the new color.
I was recently wondering if smaller wire would start being used for lighting circuits with led lighting becoming the norm 14/2 seems like overkill for most residential lighting applications. I’m not an electrician but I am capable of basic wiring.
@@byronn.2885 I think lighting circuits is the plan along with new 10A breakers.
@michaelmolter8828
> Considering 16 AWG is getting added to the 2024 NEC,
You poor buggers - that stuff breaks if you just look at it funny.
When you start finding that you need to put bootlace ferrules onto the ends of conductors to stop terminal screws from slicing through them, you start thinking "why so bleeping thin?".
@@michaelmolter8828
> @byronn.2885 I think lighting circuits is the plan along with new 10A breakers.
In the UK, lighting circuits have been 6A breakers, and before that 5A fuses, for ever. I still prefer to use 1.5mm² cable.
@@byronn.2885 Most houses combine receptacles and lights on a single circuit rather than adding an entire extra run all the way back. And in a lot of cases where they are really being pennywise and pound foolish, or old houses, they don't even bother with ceiling-lamp outlets and expect the occupant to plug in stand-alone lamps.(Possibly a split/half-switched outlet where a wall switch near the door is required by code.)
It's not how I would have my house wired, but it is cheap.
Loved the history. I had just researched the history of the name Romex last year, I was just curious. But great to see it again. If I recall correctly, Southwire bought the brand name from Rome Wire when Rome cable was needing money but my memory could certainly be incorrect.
My Dad started building the house I now own in 1948. The earlier rooms had the old cloth NM covered with a black tar like substance. Later rooms had the more familiar green NM. All of the wires has the think ground in (my Dad thought ahead on safety and was a fan of grounding before most). I always wondered why there were always two NM cables for 3 way switches (1 conductor unused) and I just thought he used what he had since money was tight, It never occurred to me that 3 conductor wasn't available back then. I've since rewired one wide of the house and starting the other side soon. The entire house was originally on four fuses even though the panel was changed to breakers in the 60s. The UF cable from about 1959 or 1960 is all gray.
When they added the yellow and orange, I always wondered why they didn't add a color for 14 gauge, which would mean anything white would have to be checked for the gauge. I can feel the gauge by bending it, but I know some people struggle with some white being 14 and some being 12.
I also wished all manufactures insulated the ground wire with green insulation. I do have some cable from the 60's like that. Sometimes it would be nice to not have all those bare wires floating around such as in some panels.
I wonder what color 16 will be?
Thank you for great content and including the history which was icing on the cake.
Interesting. Thanks!
Best video I have seen on this subject so far. Excellent work here. Really well done!
Thank you..
They really should standardize the color codes across the board! Would make it better for everyone involved. I don't see what the problem is in doing this. Thanks for vid!
Interesting video. When I saw the colors in the thumbnail, I thought it was 16-2 and 16-3 hitting the shelves.
I just picked up some 12/3 romex and was surprised to see it was purple. It does make sense to be able to identify it later on in life, especially if it was a different homeowner than the one who installed it.
I like the idea of the color coding and especially the flat wire part. Thanks for the history lesson. I have a friend when he built his house he had the electrician run 3 wire for every circuit. I was there when he did it and he said he wanted to future proof the house as much as he could. The electrician looked at him and started to tell him he was crazy but then said ok. I knew the electrician who later asked me why but said ok it’s his money… I was not involved in any decisions or anything like that but my friend told me a few weeks ago that that decision has paid off several times. I asked him if the cost difference then has offset using an electrician to run new circuits or change a circuit and he said absolutely. He said that decision has saved him money.
It’s not a decision I would have made but copper wiring was considerably cheaper then.
There’s some new homes being built by me and I was surprised by the new blue and purple wire I saw during the build out. Thanks for explaining!
My pleasure.. Thanks for watching.
Great video, thanks, I appreciate the history and it helps identifying the various eras of wiring in my 1915 home I've been rewiring.
My pleasure..
I noticed the light blue back in February before i switched over to the utility side, thought it was pretty neat. Definitely helped me with organization and identification
From one airman to another. Great video and thanks for your service brother.
Thank you and thanks for your service as well.. 🇺🇸
16/2-3 10 amp is next..I wonder about those colors.
I hope. For lighting circuits this would be perfect
Meh 14 is fine why change it just another roll of wire to tote
I've got old Romex in my house. Looking at the styles you've got, it's good to know that was probably from the 1950's or so. I've had it on my list of things to fix. One of the last houses I was in still had decommissioned knob and tube wiring in the house. I'm pretty sure it was disconnected, but when I put a multimeter on it there was still around 15V ac on it. It was weird.
I think this is a great and good idea. It will help the experience and inexperienced person to recognize the types of wiring.
Working in plastics for a short time led me to realize that some colors are selected because of the lines that run certain colors in the plant. For instance, if you mix orange and blue, you get gray. So run a blue line near an orange line, regrind can go in either (in the middle layer). This works for a lot of colors. Similarly, changing colors was easier from blue to orange. I would imagine, some of the colors you see in various similar plastics are based on the colors available mixed, ratios controlled by servos in the hoppers.
White 14/3, Yellow 12/3 and Orange 10/3 worked well. Can't mistake a 2 wire from a 3 wire. Great video.
The new 3 wire is flat, so it is much easier to install, staple and strip.
Good info about Romex cable. What about BX armor clad cable? I can remember it being required for commercial and industrial usage.
I can only imagine the home buyers asking for the colors they prefer! Thanks for the history my house still has some ceramic tube wiring, my days are numbered for sure.
Awesome documentation, especially the time stamps
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.
This was interesting. I know my house was built in the 60s. Some of the wiring is that fabric insulated type, but they have a thin (definitely smaller than 14 gauge) aluminum ground. The hot and neutral conductor are both copper. From the info here, it seems like it was likely built between 62 and 65.
When are they adding the 16/2 Romex for LED lighting branch circuits?
Is anyone in the trade actually using 16 gauge? Or is it just a Canadian thing stickin to 14 gauge min on any 120v + circuits?
Or are you wiring 12v DC led's on that 16 gauge?
Will that go along with a 10A breaker? It makes sense to use less copper if you are just wasting it running LED lights that have about 1/6 the power requirements. Copper is expensive and it is probably only going to keep increasing.
I've seen 16 gauge wire use for thermostats and sprinkler systems. Never on lighting though.
No.. 16 gauge NM-B isn't available just yet but I think it's coming soon.
The goal is 16awg on a 10amp overcurrent device for lighting circuits..
John, thanks for that great explanation of the new colors. You pondered if other manufacturers would pick up on what Rome Mfg has done; well, it's been my experience that when there is technology like this, it is far better for everyone to jump on the same bandwagon ASAP, otherwise the government will step in. And you know what happens when 535 raisins start poking into things they have no direct knowledge of. On the other hand, as was the case with Apple (much to their chagrin), new mobile devices are required to use USB-C instead of the lightning cable in this case. I think that was a good change. :)
i was surprised myself when i found out the changes on the Romex cable when i added a circuit to my garage for my welder last sunday, Pretty cool stuff😄!
Very succinct and informative presentation of the subject matter, well done!
All NM cable should be round, so much easier to install !!! Great video thank you.
Thank you, John ... great content and presentation, as always. Really enjoyed hearing the history and keeping up with the changes. Do you anticipate another new color coming for smaller (16 or 18) ga wire to run LED branches? Maybe we should start a pool to guess what color they'll use ... something in a periwinkle or aquamarine perhaps?? Personally, I think barber pole red-white-blue would be nice. 🙂 Thanks again for the great work!! 42-Jack
Thanks Jack.. I have no idea but I would expect to see a new offering of 16/2 and 16/3 coming before 2026.
Loved the history on NM!
Thank you..
I’ve dealt with that original type NM with the tar/cloth sheathing. Because it’s been installed so long it’s often dried out and very easily damaged. If there’s room in the box I’ll cut back and pigtail just to minimize future problems. I’ll also sometimes reinforce:protect the individual wires by slipping heat shrink over them.
As for 12 and 14 ga. I generally only use 12 because I figure it’s a small price to pay for more efficient delivery in the long run and is less likely to fail should a breaker be out of spec and not trip until after it should have.
As a fellow electrician I enjoyed the history portion. I've had the pleasure of running into all sorts of wire over the years. Three of the more interesting nm ones that stand out in memory:
copper wire with an aluminum ground
one white and one red conductor (vs standard one white one black)
and a decently rare I've only seen a handful of times is one with an extra long undersized ground. It was bent into numerous right angles, basically a row of endless triangles, so when you stripped it you could straighten it and have extra length.
Those 3 oddballs I can say I've collectively seen maybe different times. Everything else under the sun is commonplace. Always on the lookout for something new though.
Love your informative videos
Thank you!
My kitchen was remodeled in the 60's and actually has black vinyl 12/2 with 16g ground conductors. So apparently there was some overlap between moving from the cloth wire and ground wire size requirements. The sunroom that was later built onto the kitchen also has black vinyl 12/2 but with 12g ground wire, that was done in the early 70's.
I have seen the black and some dark grey as well. Not sure what brand it was though. Mostly it was white but there was some others but nothing was standardized until around 2001.
Never knew that about Rome. I live in an adjoining town. Rome is known as the Copper City. Revere Copper and Brass makes Reverware cookware. Rome Cable, etc. Thanks for the video.
Here in OZ we don't have different colours for the different wire amperages for domestic wiring.
Good idea, mind you it is mainly only 2 sizes.
John,After I retired from the USAF and was working for Builders Square in 1993-ish. They paid for a NEC course of me. At the course I learnt that regular people could recommend changes to the code. I emailed my suggestions to the NFPA about the color change. Years latter I saw the color changes I wrote them about. Can I take credit for this? Jerry from McCellean
Maybe you can Jerry.. lol They do still have public input that's reviewed by the individual CMP that are responsible for the 18 sections of the code.
Maybe you could write again and suggest that they change their white colored romex to something else. In that way, when you do a remodel you know that all white wire is old and you have to check carefully to see what size it is.
From a safety POV, it's only the small sizes 14, 12 and maybe 10 that are confusable. Once you up at 8 gauge it's pretty hard to mistake.
@@mb-3faze That is a good idea. I think you should submit this on your own.
Great video, honestly not a bad change imo since it makes it easier to quickly identify 3 wire cables vs 2 wire.
Yeah I agree.. Thanks for watching.
Man, I just lost an hour of my 5th of July on your videos and don't regret it for a minute.
Thank you..
my house was built in '73 in NS Canada and has the braided paper sheathing wire "LOOMEX" at 14 and 12ga... mostly 12ga used. the 12ga thermoplastic sheathing wire in my house is red, which you can still buy today, but a friend with a newer home has all yellow 12ga.
Thanks for the heads up, new news to me. If I'd seen those strange colors I would have asked "that come from Temu"?
3 wire plus ground. Like for smoke detectors and stuff like that? Thanks for sharing with us.
Nice job! I liked the history bit a lot! I did not expect to enjoy this as much as i did!
Thank you..
Good idea .now nobody can scheme and the inspector can easily see what’s what. It’s gonna look nice too😊
The conductor insulation in those old cotton braid cables was rubber,which,over time,would harden and become brittle.Had to apply heat shrink on many rewires,prior to working with it in outlet boxes,to stabilize its integrity.
Excellent info. Excellent wire coded color update improvement.
Dang, this makes me feel old because I realized I bought 250 foot boxes of 14-2 and 12-2 back in 1992 and haven't bought any Romex since then. I didn't even realize that there were new colored sheaths.
Time is funny like that isn't it?
You've convinced me to wrap my solder connections on knob-n-tube wiring with color tape. 🤣
My house is behind the capital W in your photo. I came to Rome in 1968. It used to be "The Copper City" but all have gone except Revere (yeah, founded by Paul Revere).
I can see it now, you're wiring an addition and the housewife come up to you and says, I was just at my friends house and she told me they used blue and pink wire in her addition, why aren't you using that in mine? The wire you are using is ugly, can you to change my wire to blue and pink?
I couldn't resist.
Good video.
I'm still laughing because that story rings true.
@@BackyardMaine One of the happiest days in my work carrier was when my boss said, we were no longer going to do residential work, just commercial/ industrial.