TIL: They used to solder wire connections
There's an unfinished wall in the now-conditioned attic space. The only separation from the outside is the sheathing and the vinyl siding; the stud bay is open on the interior.
Inside this stud bay was a particularly worrisome electrical box. It's a single-gang box that splices three cables together, set 1/8" out from the studs. That's really inconvenient for drywalling over (don't do that; hiding a box is a code violation) or around, after the insulation goes in.
It turns out to be the central box for a 4-way switch system, meaning it carries 8 conductors, with the only ground wire among the three visibly bent over and left to float outside the box. Also, that cable isn't stapled, and there's not enough slack to do so. It's a bog-standard single gang box, so there's not enough room for all those conductors, according to the fill rules.
I made my plans, got my parts, diagrammed the splicing for later, and pulled the tape off the first pair to be separated. Beneath the tape was a big, thick, silver wire with some twisty texture that was coppery along the ridges.
Huh.
That's soldering. Those are soldered together. What? Back to the internet, and the top pieces of available advice are:
- Don't touch it if you don't have to.
- If you do, call an electrician.
AIUI, it's still code-compliant to make soldered connections, but nobody does, because this is the far future. Everyone uses Wago connectors now.
It's always an adventure to do anything.