- Q.Can you keep old
armored-cable circuits, or should you replace them? If you
disconnect old circuits, what’s the rule around tearing
out old wire versus leaving it buried?
A. I would never add
on to an old armored-cable system. A ground wire has been
included in armored-cable wire for only the last ten years or
so, which means you could be dealing with an ungrounded system.
Better to leave the old system to itself and make all your work
new and safe. When you disconnect old circuits, it’s important that you make
them unavailable for connections in the future (Figure 1).
Remove exposed sections of wire to avoid future use or
confusion when tracing other wires. This will also make for a
cleaner job.