An Electrical Question

In my basement I recently found an old romex wire that was cut. It was stripped and the wires were wrapped in electrical tape. It was the older type of romex, so it predated my ownership of the house. I carefully took off the electrical tape, and tested it and it was live. I do not have any electrical problems in the house and this little mystery has been living happily in my house for 15 years. However it might be problematic for a potential buyer, and I am sure it is not up to code.

My inclination is to dead end it in a junction box. Does this sound good to those dopers who know more about electricity than me?

Before anybody mentions this, I will certainly find out what circuit it is on and cut the juice before doing anything.

I like to just get rid of abandonded wiring, but it you aren’t inclined or able to find the other end terminating it in a junction box is perfectly safe and legal. My concern would be if someone did something like that who knows what else they may have done that’s hiding behind walls, etc.

that is safe and OK to do, be sure to leave the box accessible. you should also write on the cover (inside or out) what you know about it (what fuse/breaker) and that it is a live wire.

you will be identifying the circuit. when you know that then you (or a skilled person) might find boxes upstream from it and have the ability to disconnect it there. a person skilled in home electrical circuits and making good connections should do that (you don’t want to make problems).

also best done by placing a wire nut on each individual wire and wrapping tape around each wire nut onto the wire to hold it in place; that is both durable and safe. a plastic box will work well for this and be safe.

Another option, since to bring it up to code you need it to be in a junction box and the box must be accessible, is to put a put a duplex outlet in the box, and connect the wires to that. Then any future homeowner will presume it is live, and an outlet tester will confirm that. Plus extra outlets are always useful!

Or put a switch in the box and drive the next owner crazy. :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s my vote.

That was a joke, by the way. Do NOT connect a hot and neutral to a light switch.

Don’t just go for a switch. Before moving out wire it up to red button marked “ACTIVATE”.

the OP said they tested it live. depending on how it was tested it could be a hot and neutral, a hot switch loop, hot 220V. even if it was a hot and neutral you would still want to know what else was on the circuit before adding a receptacle. termination is safe and simple.

Or “LAUNCH”. :smiley:

This sounds like the best solution and it works for the location. Thanks!

before you install a receptacle (outlet) you need to be sure that you have a hot and a neutral wire (depending on how you checked it was hot, it could also be a switch loop or 220V).

also find what other things are on the circuit to be sure you might not overload it (e.g. plugging a dehumidifier in the new receptacle and then at sometime unknown to you have it trip the breaker for that circuit to which you deep freezer is also on).

Or SELF DESTRUCT OVERRIDE