when did electrical boxes become a requirement


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Old 06-23-22, 02:55 AM
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when did electrical boxes become a requirement

My grandson has a 70-75 yr old modular home. While working on his house we've found a lot of sketchy electrical but up until now I thought it was from diy alterations. The only receptacle in the baby's rm was hanging out of the wall and I could see there was no electrical box. While I was enlarging the hole to fit an old work box I noticed the receptacle in the next room also did not have a box. When did elec boxes become SOP?

Another thing I found odd was instead of having a jumper wire to the next receptacle they just skint back the insulation and looped it around the screw and then continued the same wire to the next receptacle.
 
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Old 06-23-22, 04:14 AM
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Modular home use special receptacles that do not require boxes. If you look at the receptacle you will see that all the connections are contained within the receptacle. Basically the receptacle is the box.
 
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Old 06-23-22, 05:03 AM
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Not so on this one. The wires were connected to the screws on the side. One had been replaced but the other one was one of the old ones without a ground.
 
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Old 06-24-22, 10:24 AM
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when did electrical boxes become a requirement
I don't know precisely, but I'd guess sometime around 1930's. That's when NM sheathed cable started replacing knob-and-tube wiring.

Though splices outside of boxes definitely continued for a long time, likely against code. And as Mark mentioned, mobile home wiring is its own beast - both when manufactured as well as when updated.
 
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Old 06-24-22, 01:20 PM
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So being built after WW2 it should have had electrical boxes. I'm convinced those 2 outlets were done without boxes from the factory, guess either the inspections were lax or they had him on the payroll.
 
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Old 06-24-22, 06:17 PM
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Since this is a modular/manufactured home it is up to the manufacturer to make sure the wiring is safe. Well...safe at the time it was installed.
 
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Old 06-25-22, 03:33 AM
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I'm thinking that maybe a previous owner replaced some receptacles and instead of using the self contained ones usually for a mobile home they used regular receptacles but then found that maybe the walls were not deep enough for standard old work plastic boxes and decided just to use the regular receptacles but just screw them directly to the wall and not use a box.

I bought my house as a foreclosure. The knob and tube was removed and new romex in entire house. However, the person/s who rewired the entire house did not use one single box where they installed a new switch or receptacle. They just punched a hole in the wall and screwed the receptacle or switch right to the panneling or sheetrock with little screws. I had to go thru the entire house and install old work boxes and some wire mold boxes. So anything is possible.
 
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Old 06-25-22, 04:06 AM
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The receptacle in the little girls rm was one of the old ones without a ground .... which makes me believe it's original. Would they have had the self contained receptacles 70+ yrs ago?

A lot of sketchy diy stuff though. New kitchen light over the sink had a box - made out of plywood. The laundry rm addition had no box for the ceiling light and since the exterior walls is 2x2s they just cut the back off of the box for the switch.

The good news is when the heat pump was installed [I assume] the service was upgraded, fuse box replaced with breakers and the back half of the house was rewired.
 
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Old 06-25-22, 11:08 AM
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Would they have had the self contained receptacles 70+ yrs ago?
That's a tough question, I don't recall ever seeing a manufactured home that old.
 
 

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