# asbestos in old wire?



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i was stripping some old wire today and the "cloth" insultion looks like asbestos or fiberglass. i stopped work when i saw it, but i am not very happy about it. this wire was in flexible metal conduit...the type that is spiral wound, and the actual sheathing was made of the mystery material apparently coated with tar or some such substance.

was asbestos used in the sheathing of old electrical wire?


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Old soldering irons and flat irons had wire with insulation that I was told contained asbestos.


----------



## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

I am not an expert by any means about asbestos, but have worked around it for years. I do hvac work in old houses. That being said, I never really saw any similarities with cable sheath on the wire with asbestos. But it seems they tell us about more and more products that contain asbestos. If you spray the wire with water & detergent to reduce dust while your working with it, you should be fine. You could send a sample to the EPA and let us know what they find. 

P.S. Alot of the old cable sheath was made of cotton.


----------



## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

We had a serious problem at a local business with old wiring with asbestos insulation. Didn't realize that it contained asbestos until the electricians were tearing it out. Got some folks into big trouble, since they didn't warn the workers or require them to use appropriate precautions.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

what ever i was stripping out, the fibers looked like fiberglass. i have never heard of fiberglass being used that way so i considered the possibliity of asbestos and stopped working on it. the wire was tight inside the spiral metal outer cover and it required lots of close and dirty work. i didn't feel comfortable messing with it.


----------



## edzz (Jun 21, 2008)

MELOC said:


> was asbestos used in the sheathing of old electrical wire?


Yes, after WWII a lot of wire was made with asbestos sheating.


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Do the wires look anything like these two on the right? Did the material feel smooth and greasy? http://www.asbestos-now.com/electrical-equipment


----------

