Hi, I have an elecritcal outlet in my kitchen that I would like to cover with an end panel. It is too difficult for me to move the outlet, so I just want to "deactivate" it and cover it, if you will. How can I do this? Is it as simple as taking the face plate and the plug-in part off and putting electrical tape on the wire ends? Or is this a major no-no!!!??? Thanks for any advice, and I appologize for my novice description of my problem! Christa
You really are not supposed to cover an electrical junction box. If you were to do this in a way the box could be accessed in the future, it would be OK. You would have to remove the receptacle and if there were only two wires
+ground, you would cap the wires. If there are four wires on the outlet, you'd need to splice together and cap the two white wires, and the two colored wires, usually black, possibly red. If you do find that there is only two wires in that box, those wires could be disconnected from an upstream outlet, then you could bury the "dead" box altogether, although in doing so, you would undoubtedly be creating a violation in not having the proper number of outlets for the counter space.
Can you access the wires that enter (and possibly leave) the box from another location?
For example, all of the first floor outlets > Hi,
Junction boxes are supposed to be "accessible." If no power goes into the J box, it isn't really a junction box anymore. In the above case, it wasn't necessary to pull the wires but merely to disconnect them. The code isn't concerned with abandoned wires.
If you cover up a live junction box it's a matter of judgment as to whether it's still accessible. Clearly, "covering" it with movable furniture retains the "accessibility". Likewise, some wall paper over a blank cover would still be accessible. But if you cover it with a kitchen cabinet and don't provide an access hole ...
It comes down to how much work is required to regain access to the box and whether the box can be "found" if you move out and someone else moves in.
In our place the previous owner put a blank cover over a J-box and then built a wall that partly covered the cover. But IMO it's still as "accessible" as a ceiling box with a heavy light fixture attached. It would be a minor PITA but if the need arose, I could get a knife and cut out the 1" or so of wall board.
In some places there are two electrical inspections: before the dry wall is installed and after the walls are up and the fixtures, outlets, and switches are in place. I suspect that my partly covered box would not pass the second electrical inspection!
Actually, it depends more on what *type* of work is required to gain access.
The NEC has a different opinion, and under the Code, that is not accessible. What is, or is not, "accessible" is not "a matter of judgement", it's a matter of Code definition:
"Accessible (as applied to wiring methods). Capable of being removed or exposed without damaging the building structure or finish or not permanently closed in by the structure or finish of the building." [2005 NEC, Article 100]
Anything that can't be exposed without cutting out a section of drywall is clearly not "accessible" as defined by the Code.
Indeed it would not.
Well, when you include the word, "finish" LOTS and LOTS of new construction would not pass.
It's almost routine to spray paint rooms after the electrical inspection. The painters just cover the switches and outlets with a little masking tape (the ceiling fixtures aren't installed and, in fact, new construction minimizes the number of ceiling fixtures.)
After such a paint job you can't gain access to the J-boxes without damaging the "finish." Where a CB box is put in "finished" space it routinely is painted over. Sometimes you can't even open the cover without damaging the "finish."
That's sort of what I said.
yeah.
Were the house to be "re-inspected" I would simply cut away the dry wall before the inspection. It would be up to the next owner what to do next. Fortunately, such complete re-inspections don't happen often.
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