Attach outlet extender (2025 Update)

Agreed it's not Code but it's not likely very unsafe...the biggest practical thing is there is no strain relief in such a box and there appears to be sufficient excess length of the cord that it could fairly easily be a trip/yank waiting to happen...

Then adding the multi-cube on top is just Rube Goldberg in action...

On Thu, 16 Jul 2020 02:07:36 -0400, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted for all of us to digest...

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 22:04:58 -0400, Clare Snyder posted for all of us to digest...

Little*** shaky there.

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 21:56:12 -0400, Clare Snyder posted for all of us to digest...

Only the aluminum duct tape.

On 7/16/2020 1:07 AM, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: ...

Indeed! The combination of NEC and OSHA for job site "handy box" extension cords are, indeed, infuriatingly over-the-top in banning things that are certainly safe-enough to be no real hazard at all but just don't have the window-dressing.

Fortunately, some things can be safely ignored when don't have to answer to OSHA... :)

I have about 600' of extension cords my wife confiscated from the job sites when she heard OSHA was in town. The deal was "make them compliant or buy a new one". Pretty much everyone bought a new one. The damage was usually in the first or last few feet of the end so I ended up with a bunch of 90' and 40' 12 ga cords. I even offered to give them back for the price of the connectors I bought but nobody bit. OSHA is a funny beast in the boonies like we live in. If there is an accident in town the flying squad comes in. That job gets picked apart. Then they go around town writing tickets for a week and they are gone. Woe be to the contractor or job super who is not paying attention to the buzz about an accident. In the 7 years she built houses her jobs were fairly much unscathed by fines and penalties but she had the reputation of being the safety nazi. Hard hats, eye protection and proper footwear was the top of the list. Next came ladders and fall protection, boots on the rebar and keeping the ground around the building clear. GFCIs were never an issue because all temporary power was on GFCI at the source. Cords were still a problem tho.

I was in the middle of replacing the back porch 6x6"s on my brick 2-flat in Chicago when a father and son were killed working on their foundation of their frame 2-flat. Crushed when the house collapsed on them. Luckily nobody reported it.

In the early days of OSHA we got quite a bit of work fitting safety guards on molding presses. Some of them created more pinch points that the press itself but OSHA way happy.

My favorite was a safety bar that swung in between the press platens to prevent the ram from closing. In a down acting press the ram usually free falls, pulling fluid in through a big check valve. When the press is closed, the valve closes and the cylinder builds pressure. Something went wrong and the pilot operated check was closed as the press descended. It spit out the pretzel shaped safety bar like a watermelon seed.

We got written up for an ungrounded water cooler. The cooler feed was sweated copper all the way back and about the only thing in the shop that had a solid ground. As long as all the green wires were connected the OSHA guy didn't care if they were floating.

Back in the 70s I was in a government office that had a paper shear they were using that probably would cut a phone book in half. The new safety switches were on both side rails, about 35-40 inches apart so the operator could not hit the shear while his hand was in it. The first time I saw the safety guy demonstrate it, he cut off the end of his tie. They had that hanging on the wall for years after that.

Must have been the same inspectors we had for molding machines. No guards and parts were removed by hand between the platens. We got written up for an ungrounded refrigerator in the break room.

I will attach the cord and provide strain relief.

But there are some here who will complain no matter what.

:-)

Andy

And adding this.

Indeed, can't expect concurrence with out-of-Code stuff in public forum whether anybody might do something similar or not on own.

This is one that it seems like a lot of effort required to not just take the practical solution of getting a manufactured power strip instead. It would avoid the need for the additional cube eliminating the problem that the original question raised entirely as well as the unsightly and highly questionable use of the wall handy box as mobile device.

If distance is the problem, making the modification of replacing original one with a longer cord would be the neater solution.

People do stuff like that and wire up outlets to 277 lighting voltage every year. But,UL laboratories expect that from the peanut gallery, so these devices and other hardware (both hardwired or plug-in) can usually take the abuse of the wrong voltage/current/ wiring combo. (not that that should ever be the aim, though)

Clowns will do what clowns will do. Sadly it's the "engineers" (from other disciplines) that do the stupidest stuff, ask the craziest questions, and ignore the advice given.

That would be pretty difficult to do in a typical American house. I bet the vast majority aren't close to a 277 volt circuit. American farms have three phase 480 for irrigation and possibly grain drying. The irrigation ones are typically a long ways from a house and supplied with an individual meter. Grain drying is often supplied with electricity to run the fans and propane or natural gas to supply the heat. I don't work with those so can't say what the electrical supply would be. Three phase 240 is a possibility. That would run the larger fans and still allow power for the house.

I'm Guilty as charged!

But the outlet adapter I referred to was like one several items down on that page: "GE 6 Outlet Wall Plug Adapter Power Strip, Extra Wide Spaced Outlets for Cell Phone Charger, Power Adapter, 3 Prong, Multi Outlet Wall Charger, Quick & Easy Install, For Home Office, Home Theater, Kitchen, or Bathroom, UL Listed, White, 50759".

This adapter replaces the original cover plate from a common dual outlet. It is held in place with a central screw. Several other slightly different configurations are also available. They are commonly found in hardware stores.

If these adapters are illegal, I was not aware of it.

Fred

That is a place where you are likely to see center tapped delta. The small red leg transformer gives them 3p 240 and the big transformer provides the single phase 120/240. The PoCo gets away with 2 transformers.

"Illegal" is a stretch but the NEC does say you are not supposed to use outlet devices like this as a substitute for building wiring on a permanent basis. The general consensus, as stated by Cindy, is plug strips and such are tolerated if they have a breaker protecting the cord and they are not daisy chained. Our county life safety officer hated them in the IBM office and we just bought surge protecting strips to shut him up. I am not sure we were protected from surges by that little MOV in there but we were protected from "the man".

I really stopped caring at the face of receptacle. Whatever the user plugs in is out of my jurisdiction. That is why we have 240.4(D) that protects "small conductors" at 80% ampacity.