Automotive wires found in kitchen?

Vic7777 · Apr 22, 2020

Hi everyone. I'm completely new to this form and barely a novice with electrical wiring. I bought my current house a year ago, it's about 60 yrs old originally but has had numerous extensions and remodels done in the past, some of which consisted of subpar work. I was working on refinishing the cabinets yesterday when I found a mess of wires on the ground underneath the cabinets. I pulled them up to expose and see what was going on and I ended up with what you see in the attached picture. The romex and braided cables are all hot, and supply power to the kitchen electrical outlets. The mess of colored wires is what really confused me though. They look like automotive wires to me? They all come out of and return to the same hole cut in the drywall, they essentially form a giant loop and so I have no idea where they originate from or terminate at. Can anyone identify what these wires may be for? Or why they would be inside a kitchen wall. I also do not know how to test them to see if they are receiving any power.

In a normal world I would've immediately called an electrician to come look at all of this, but with covid19 restrictions in CA and my wife being pregnant I really can't bring anyone into the house. I'd like to render things as safe as possible until I can bring an electrician in. Thanks in advance for your help.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Automotive wires found in kitchen?

DPG · Apr 22, 2020

Look like telephone cables to me.

Phil L · Apr 22, 2020

^^^
As above looks like Data/Telephone cables

Megawatt · Apr 23, 2020

Vic7777 said:
Hi everyone. I'm completely new to this form and barely a novice with electrical wiring. I bought my current house a year ago, it's about 60 yrs old originally but has had numerous extensions and remodels done in the past, some of which consisted of subpar work. I was working on refinishing the cabinets yesterday when I found a mess of wires on the ground underneath the cabinets. I pulled them up to expose and see what was going on and I ended up with what you see in the attached picture. The romex and braided cables are all hot, and supply power to the kitchen electrical outlets. The mess of colored wires is what really confused me though. They look like automotive wires to me? They all come out of and return to the same hole cut in the drywall, they essentially form a giant loop and so I have no idea where they originate from or terminate at. Can anyone identify what these wires may be for? Or why they would be inside a kitchen wall. I also do not know how to test them to see if they are receiving any power.

In a normal world I would've immediately called an electrician to come look at all of this, but with covid19 restrictions in CA and my wife being pregnant I really can't bring anyone into the house. I'd like to render things as safe as possible until I can bring an electrician in. Thanks in advance for your help.View attachment 57693

Vic please tell me none of them are hooked to nothing and all the splices have to be in a box. That is a big time violation of the NEC. If those wires are not doing nothing please remove them and the only thing it can be is supposed to be HVAC wiring but that don’t look like that. As mentioned above probably old phone wires. You can go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and buy a non contact hot stick that will let you know if power is on wires

Vic7777 · Apr 23, 2020

Megawatt said:
Vic please tell me none of them are hooked to nothing and all the splices have to be in a box. That is a big time violation of the NEC. If those wires are not doing nothing please remove them and the only thing it can be is supposed to be HVAC wiring but that don’t look like that. As mentioned above probably old phone wires. You can go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and buy a non contact hot stick that will let you know if power is on wires

Thank you to everyone for your replies. Megawatt - the spliced wires were all hot, and I found out powering the track lighting in the kitchen, not recrptacles. So first I cut out all the phone wires. Then I removed the romex splices and wired them all straight into the box (attached pic), the lights they are powering are all working fine. Does this seem to be a safe setup until I get an electrician here?

Thanks again.

Megawatt · Apr 23, 2020

Vic7777 said:
Thank you to everyone for your replies. Megawatt - the spliced wires were all hot, and I found out powering the track lighting in the kitchen, not recrptacles. So first I cut out all the phone wires. Then I removed the romex splices and wired them all straight into the box (attached pic), the lights they are powering are all working fine. Does this seem to be a safe setup until I get an electrician here?

Thanks again.

Yes Vic for right now but boxes need to be screwed to the wood because that box is what we call a floating box. Call an electrician when times are better and be safe and the box needs a cover. Good luck my friend