Wiring Of A Garrage Door Opener When There Is No Ceiling Outlet ? (2023 Update)

[x Hades Stamps]

It DOES violate electrical codes, but most people do it anyway. It's not illegal to live that way, just to sell it that way.

[x Hades Stamps]

That's WEIRD! I can't believe people would do that! At least 200

[x Hades Stamps]

replying to Greg G, x Hades Stamps wrote: I'm curious about how "finished" your garage is. Since you mention a door opener, I assume you keep a car in the garage, so it's probably not some showpiece of a room. If so you could use regular EMT conduit on the surface of your ceiling and walls. If you don't feel like buying and learning to use a bender, you could just buy the elbows and other fittings you need. It is a lot easier to pull wire through bent curves than fittings, though. That does still leave open the question of where the electricity is coming from in the first place. My electrical service box is in my garage, so in my case it would be easy. You could put the opener on its own circuit. If not, you could probably put an extender box on your present oulet box. I would encourage you to first figure out what else is on that circuit. If your house is "shy" on outlets, it's probably shy on circuits too. My house originally had a crazy combination of fixtures from all over the house on each breaker. The door opener is a very intermittent use item, but you might not want an electric motor on the same circuit as your computer, for example. You also might not want it to be the straw that occasionally breaks the camel's back on an overloaded circuit. You could also use the Wiremold surface mount wiring system. I believe they make an "extension box" that you can attach to your present outlet box. It extends the box out an inch or so, so it protrudes out from the wall. This allows you to attach their raceway (sort of a squared-off conduit) to the side or top of the box, extending along the wall. Make sure to get the SAME type of their product for the whole run. They make 2 sizes, which are mutually incompatible and NOT well labeled. I believe that the WHITE and BEIGE pieces are actually two different sizes. I think their stuff is a little expensive and I'm guessing it's harder to pull wires through than EMT. If a somewhat "industrial" look would not be out of place in your garage, I'd use EMT. Greg Guarino

What is an EMT?

[trader_4]

You might want to check on that. Around here, what's illegal under the code is illegal regardless. For example, if I'm doing my roof without a permit, doing it incorrectly, not to code and the code official sees it, it's a violation. I can't say, it's OK, I'm not selling the place. Now on the garage door opener thing, if you use an extension cord, an inspector for the buyer may flag it. Also if you have to get a town inspection, for a CO for the sale, they might flag it, but I doubt it. Around here they only look for a very limited number of things, eg smoke detectors, handrails on stairs, functioning bathrooms. I would agree that there are probably plenty of garage door openers on extension cords and if it's done in a reasonable fashion it's probably not going to cause a safety issue. The problems come when people are totally clueless, which is part of the reason we have the codes.

[clare]

Electro-Metallic tubing - AKA Thinwall conduit.

[trader_4]

No. It's still a code violation for a number of reasons, including the new one of modifying UL listed eqpt. You can't use flexible unprotected cord fastened to ceilings, walls, etc to power permanently mounted eqpt. In this case it would go across a ceiling and half way down a wall.

[Linda]

Oh good lord!

Cut a 16" x 16" hole (center of stud to center of stud) near the ceiling, drill a 6" access hole in the ceiling, drill a 3/4" hole thru the top plate and run your wires and install receptacle. If you cut the holes carefully, you can reuse the drywall cutouts to fill the holes.

It would take me longer to find my tools than it would to do the actual work.

[Peter]

When you try to interpret the codes, it all depends on the definitions of "unprotected" (is an outdoor, waterproof extension cord unprotected?), "flexible" (steel girders are flexible; is Romex flexible?), "fastened" (if I screw an eyelet into the ceiling of the garage, attach a one foot length of nylon twine through the eyelet and knot a loop around the "protected" and "inflexible" wire, is that fastened?), and "permanently" (is that more than overnight, a week, a year, a century, a million years?). And, if you sell the property "as is" and the buyer waives an inspection contingency, is it still an illegal sale? Lawyers love real estate disputes! All those billable hours.

[trader_4]

You make it sound like this is totally uncharted territory. It's not. Most of those terms are defined in the NEC and this particular issue is very clear. A given AHJ is free to follow or not follow NEC. If the person interested wants to know for sure what their inspector will say, they can go ask.

And, if you sell the property "as

Who said any sale would be illegal?

[trader_4]

Just stop already. New drywall? electrical pipes? braces? I had to add one in the second bay in my garage. There was a receptacle in the first bay. I had to make one small drywall hole, ran romex from the existing receptacle, it was a small, easy job. Will it always be that easy? No. But without knowing the details of the actual location, you're just throwing a lot of FUD up. And who ever saw a popcorn ceiling in a garage?

Often,

As stated previously, yes it would be a violation.

You could cut the end off of an old extension cord

Screw a cord onto the garage door? Now that's a new one! I think I see some issues there.

[clare]

Sounds like your garage is like mine - where DID I leave my drywall tools (Haven't used them in YEARS.)

[x Hades Stamps]

Yes, 6 years old, post, I know I was really young and very unknowledgeable when I wrote that (as evidenced by the way I typed). I can now safely say that replacing the cord with a longer one is no better

As for your question about popcorn ceilings in garages...you sweet summer child. Me. Our garage has a popcorn ceiling (which we honestly need professionally removed, as I'm 99% sure it contains asbestos. Worse, it's out in the open and cery volatile--just the vibrations from the motor will release it into the air)

[Ed P]

Spray it with water, scrape. Nothing will fly around. Wear a mask to be comfortable. My wife did our 2000 sq ft. house some years ago.

[Clare Snyder]

MOST garage ceilings are not "popcorn" - they are "scratch-coat" - a rough plaster that can be, and often is, tip-coated with a finish plaster. It is pasically a "mortar" mix (at leat that is what we finf most commonly in Canadian garages - specifically Ontario. In cheaper houses you often have bare poorly taped drywall. In higher end houses, sctatchcoat or sand-coat plaster. Iften more "brushcoat" than "scratchcoat".

As for the garage opener, mine runs on an extention cord and is mounted above the rail over by the garage wall - nit in the middle of the door. It is an old (original 48 year old) 1 piece Barry steel overhead door. There ia a mezzanine above the door for storage - accessed up the middle with the door closed - so center mounting the opener was NOT an aption.