Can I ditch one line and pigtail in this scenario?

I am replacing another leg of old wire this weekend and when I opened the kitchen ceiling light box, which is the hub for the rear section of the house, once again I found something I did not expect.

There is:

14-2 power in.

14-3 to the switch.

14-2 to the switch box that is tied to the power for the adjacent bedroom ceiling light only. The wall plugs are on a different breaker. The two switches are located back to back.

Would it be a code violation or is there some reason not to run only new 14-3 from the kitchen light (source) to the wall switch box, hard wire the 14-2 for the bedroom line to the white and black of the 14-3 and pigtail the switch to that, using the red as the top of the switch back to the light?

It would save a lot of wire and time but is it acceptable practice or just a short cut?

 

If there is a 14/3 and a 14/2 to the switch box, are you sure the kitchen switch is not a 3 way? Are the whites just tied together?

What you propose is not a code violation, I just want to make sure you have the correct wiring.

 

Thank you Toyln Ironhand,

From what I have taken apart so far:

14-3 black to switch bottom
14-3 red to switch top
14-3 white all bundled in

14-2 from kitchen light to wall box tied to short section to wall box next to it
all whites bundled


The wall switch box is crowded, barely room to put the switch in there.

 

That sounds like one switch of a three switch circuit. Is there another switch that operates the light with that one ?

 

PJmax,

There is only one switch currently, I do not know about in the past, the house is old and there has been some work done along the way.

I just took it all apart, there is also a wall plug wired to the 14-2 that goes from the kitchen ceiling box to the light switch. So the 14-2 feeds the bedroom light and a kitchen back wall plug that is unused but worth keeping and rewiring.

I have just pulled new 14-2 as line in to the kitchen ceiling, and am ready to pull out the 14 and 14-3 lines to replace.

 

Everything went well, sort of.

I replaced the wire from the Feeder Panel to the Bathroom light.
new wire on to the Kitchen light
new 14-3 to the switch
a small jumper to the bedroom light switch on the back side.

Everything works except the bathroom light.

The only original wire I left in the leg was the travelers to the bathroom switch.
The bathroom light reads only 57 volts red to neutral at the light box.
120 volts black to neutral.

The travelers are frail but seemed ok.
I put heat shrink insulation around the 2 wires and for about 3 inches on the main cloth wrapping where it enters the new ceiling box.

Any suggestions?

 

Put it back the way it was.

 

Given the former owner bypassed a 2 fuse sub panel and hot wired 14g to a 30amp 10g feed, I am really happy to see as much of this old wire go as possible.

He had a few plug boxes cross wired (hot on the neutral screws) and all the boxes look like the one pictured. Is that just age or a result of cross wiring and being on a 30amp feed?

But you did put a smile on my face over morning coffee.

(sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures)

 

Mission accomplished, tonight I finally had some time to change the travelers to the switch in the bathroom. Only took 6 hours after I discovered a cement block in the wall right where I needed to drill to run new wire. The neighbor says there use to be a pot belly stove in the kitchen and the pipe ran through the bathroom.

But the back half of the house is fully rewired now and works like a charm.

Thanks for the help.