Another Dumb Question


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Old 01-13-12, 03:00 PM
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Another Dumb Question

I want to put a small light, something on the order of a small fluorescent, under-the-cabinet-type light (certainly no more than 50W), into a small, in-the-wall (it does not go to the floor) pantry built into a basement stairwell space adjacent to a kitchen. I want to put the light on the inside wall of the pantry above the door to the pantry. I then want to use the existing lamp cord on such a light fixture and run it around the casing molding on the top and the side of the doorway and down the side wall of the pantry using surface-type conduit (wiremold) to protect it. I then want to cut off the plug on that cord and put a wall switch in the lamp cord on the wall inside the pantry, using the type of switch housing that is made for wiremold (see links below). I would then run more lamp cord (possibly 18 gauge) from the switch (wiremold protected) down the side wall to the floor of the panty, then fish it into and down through the kitchen wall and through the house floor to the basement. I would then staple this lamp cord along joist directly into a nearby junction box, where I would just tie it into hot wires and neutral wires at existing wire nut splices. I would rather do it this way than to use 14g or 12g Romex to run an outlet into the pantry and then just plug the light fixture into it. I want an easily accessible switch to the light to be inside the pantry and low enough to be easily reached.

Questions:

1. Does this kind of switch box for wiremold:

Utility Box with Switch,Metal, Ivory-V57240 at The Home Depot

use an ordinary wall switch of the type one uses with Romex? It looks like it in the picture. I assume it is OK to switch 16 gauge or 18 gauge lamp cord with such a switch?

Can I use this box:

Metal Switch and Receptacle Box-V5748 at The Home Depot

and will it take an ordinary 15A switch and the type of cover plate that one uses on ordinary electrical switch boxes

2. Is there any reason why I cannot splice 16 or 18 gauge lamp cord wire directly into 14 or 12 gauge wiring, at an octagonal junction box, using wire nuts? The cord would go only to the light fixture and the light would use less than 50W, so less than half an ampere.

3. Would doing it this way violate anything in the national electrical code?

It seems to me that this would be perfectly safe to do.
 

Last edited by bob821; 01-13-12 at 03:33 PM.
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Old 01-13-12, 03:43 PM
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Wiremold is fine but lamp cord is not intended for what you want to do. It is not approved for running through walls and floors plus wiring gage must match or exceed breaker size. I would suggest a hard wired light, Wiremold, and individual THHN conductors in the Wiremold sized to the breaker on your power source. The surface mount boxes you linked to are fine for this project. In the basement you can transition to PVC conduit or NM-b sleeved where it runs down a wall lower then six feet.
 
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Old 01-13-12, 08:01 PM
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Ray is correct. You cannot use the wire you stated. It would need to be something like type NM cable or individual conductors in the wiremold.
 
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Old 01-14-12, 02:10 AM
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So, that makes it difficult. I might as well use cable (Romex) from the basement junction box up into the kitchen wall to a switch on the kitchen wall *outside* the pantry, then from the switch up through the kitchen wall to the attic space, and then put an octagonal box in the ceiling of the pantry and use an ordinary light fixture attached to that box. Much more difficult to do, involves crawling around in the attic, and I would prefer a switch *inside* the pantry.

The only time I have used THHN individual conductors was in much larger PVC conduit under ground for wiring a hot tub. Can one actually run three 14g THHN conductors (hot, neutral, ground) through the very small wiremold

CordMate White Channel Kit-C110 at The Home Depot

that I was considering using for esthetic reasons? The circuit I want to add to is protected at only 15A.

Can the individual THHN conductors then be fished through wall space without conduit protecting them there?

How exactly does one hard wire with THHN to a surface mounted light fixture? Does wiremold offer a surface mounted electrical box to which a small light fixture can be attached? Is that what this is:

Non-Metallic Circular Fixture Box-NMW4 at The Home Depot

And one can use 14g THHN in this? If so, I would never have thought 3 such conductors would fit.
 
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Old 01-14-12, 03:18 AM
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Can one actually run NM-B cable within wiremold along the inside surface of the pantry wall? I have never thought of THHN conductors fitting into this type of small wiremold, much less sheathed cable. I thought such wiremold only allowed use of very small gauge wiring.

What I am really trying to do is not to have to try to run wiring inside the wall spaces of the pantry itself. This would be difficult because the pantry is built into the top of a basement stairwell. The stairwell is adjacent to a kitchen.

Can I use wiremold and lamp cord (or 3 - 14g individual THHN conductors, if they will fit into such wiremold) from a surface mounted light fixture (mounted on the inside pantry wall above the pantry door) to a surface mounted wall switch on a side wall inside the pantry, then use lamp cord (or THHN)/wiremold to go further down the pantry wall to a surface mounted wiremold electrical box on the floor of the pantry (against the side wall still), and then splice, using wire nuts, into the lamp cord in this wiremold electrical box and run sheathed 14g (or 12g just because I have a lot of it) cable from this wiremold box down through the floor of the pantry, into the kitchen wall space and thence to tie into the junction box in the basement?
 

Last edited by bob821; 01-14-12 at 04:14 AM.
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Old 01-14-12, 06:41 AM
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Can one actually run NM-B cable within wiremold along the inside surface of the pantry wall?
Yes but I'd only do it on straight runs. Any bends would probably be too sharp.
I have never thought of THHN conductors fitting into this type of small wiremold
That is what is normally used in it. Wiremold is primarily intended for 120v or 240v wiring. By code that means nothing less then #14.

Can I use wiremold and lamp cord or 3 - 14g individual THHN conductors, if they will fit into such wiremold) from a surface mounted light fixture (mounted on the inside pantry wall above the pantry door) to a surface mounted wall switch on a side wall inside the pantry, then use lamp cord (or THHN)/wiremold to go further down the pantry wall to a surface mounted wiremold electrical box on the floor of the pantry (against the side wall still), and then splice, using wire nuts, into the lamp cord in this wiremold electrical box and run sheathed 14g (
Forget the lamp cord. You can't use it period.
 
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Old 01-18-12, 02:05 PM
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I decided to use Romex for the whole run. No wiremold. No crawling around in the attic space involved. The switch will be inside the pantry where I want it. I just need to run cable up through the kitchen wall by the pantry and stay in that wall to go over the top of the pantry door, where light fixture will be mounted on the inside wall above the door. To easily route the cable I will need to poke 2 holes in the kitchen drywall. But I will spackle these in later and I have the paint which I know will match perfectly since I have used it for touch up before. This will be more satisfactory to me than using wiremold or playing in 15 inches of blown-in rock wool insulation in the attic space.

I learned more about wiremold from Home Depot. There are many different types used in different ways. I could have used the 500/700 series type for the part of the total run that is above the floor of the pantry, but it will be much cheaper, easier, and more satisfactory to do it the way I have decided.

Thanks for the responses.
 
 

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