I took out a 9 foot patio door and am installing a 6 foot French door. I need to move my light switch closer to the now narrower door.
Last year I ran a new circuit to my bathroom. The only thing on it is one outlet. (I added an outlet on a different circuit so my daughter and wife could use their hairdryers at the same time.
Could I just run from this circuit to my new switch? The only thing that will be on this switch will be two porch lights.
Or, can you not run off of a bathroom circuit even if I only have one outlet on it?
I'm having trouble understanding whether your new switch will be on a separate circuit with just the two porch lights or on a separate circuit with an electrical outlet in the bathroom AND the two porch lights. If it's on the same circuit with the bathroom electrical outlet, then you need to ensure that the hair dryer and porch lights all being on together won't draw more than 15 amps. In fact, IIRC, there's a percentage that electricians use, like 75% of the 15 amp circuit amperage that you shouldn't go over.
If the new switch simply turns on the porch lights and has no connection to the bathroom electrical outlet, then so far as I can see, the only requirement that you need to meet here is that all the wiring connections need to be ACCESSIBLE. You can't cover your existing switch box with drywall, for example.
So, what I would do here is install your new switch box and connect it to your old electrical box. Install a new switch in the new switch box location and install a "blank" cover plate on the old switch box location.
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That way the connections between the new and old wires are accessible by removing that blank cover plate.
No. not legally Bathroom receptacles need to be on dedicated circuits with no other outlets outside the bathroom If the light and fans are on a general purpose circuit (not the bathroom counter circuit) you can hit that one.
It is a dual gang switch box and I am not crazy about leaving a box with a cover on it in the wall, just for looks mainly....
I guess my question is, can I use the circuit in the bathroom to tie off of to power the flood light and porch light. (For some reason I thought you could not via code).
On 11/18/2014 11:36 AM, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: ...
Well, you can't bury an existing box in the wall (by Code), either, so you need to do _something_ with it.
If it's outlets, no. If it's just lighting then yes that would be ok albeit somewhat klunky probably.
What's feeding the existing lights/switchbox? The correct answer _probably_ is to pull new switch leg from the existing location back to the fixtures to the new location bypassing the current switch over to the new; then you can pull the no-longer-need existing box and repair the wall.
Humm. Lighting is an "outlet" in the electrical code. You are confusing that with "receptacles" There can be no other "outlets" on a bathroom circuit and that includes lights.
The rules are a little funky. Basically if the 20a bathroom circuit only feeds one bathroom, it can serve all the loads in that bathroom but if it feeds multiple bathrooms it can only feed the receptacles. If a circuit is only serving the fan and light in the bathroom (no receptacles), it can also serve loads in other places.
Usually a heater is big enough to need a dedicated circuit by itself, maybe combined with a light and fan in the same unit so that is not generally a factor,
All that said, adding one light to the bathroom circuit won't burn your house down, it is just not legal. Truth be told I have a receptacle in my master bathroom on another circuit but it was here that way from the 60s. I did add a new dedicated circuit serving the counter top but that stray receptacle was just to hard to rewire so I left it.
Another option would be to locate the existing cable to the light switch, possibly in the attic or basement, intercept it there, put in a box and just extend it to the location where the switch is being moved. But given the interest in tapping the bath, maybe that's not practical.
No, I am not confusing anything with anything...see below.
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I quote...
That's what I just told stryped1... _IFF_ (the proverbial "big if" and only if) the circuit he taps into from the bath provides only lighting and no receptacles (thereby _NOT_ being the required 20A receptacle circuit of Code distinction) can he use it by Code for his other lights.
If it is either the one or is as is apparently the case here an additional for receptacles in a bath, then it can't go elsewhere.
. You are adding wall-space so you are doing drywall work. Open the wall, pull the wire out - if fed from below put a junction box in the basement if necessary and extend the wiring to the new location. If fed from above in a bungalow. pull the wire up to the attic and do likewize
I need to investigate further put looking under the box it looks like the wire runs horizontally, so I do not know at which point it goes up into the attic or down into the crawlspace.
Is it legal/good practice to put a junction box in a crawlspace?
I'm sure I can come up with scenarios where it's easier to tap into another circuit than deal with the one that the switch is already on. But I certainly agree that evaluating using the existing one is the place you'd normally start.
re - - Any way it wouldn't look so bad covering the box with decorative bla nk cover. Better than tapping off from another circuit
You might be able to hide the cover plate behind a picture or something. W e have a small decorative rug on the wall covering the entire circuit break er box for our house which is on a family room wall. Builder not too decor ator conscious, but the rug looks natural on wood paneling.
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