I was in HD and Lowes this week looking to buy a simple surface-mount
110 volt 10 or 15 amp receptacle, and they don't seem to have any. What's going on?
They had loads of different designs of receptacles for inside walls, but not surface-mount.
I didn't get to ACE yet. It's fairly far from me. Is there any point to going?
Actually what I really want is a surface mount 6-outlet receptacle. Did they ever make such a thing? Do they make it now?
P.S. Ebay has one:
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only $1.49 plus 3.95 shipping! but I should be able to buy this in a store, like God intended. And it says it's new old stock. Isn't there new new stock?
It's only $1.49 plus 3.95 shipping! but I should be able to buy this
Maybe there shouldn't be.
It took me a minute to figure out just what this was from the eBay pictures. Now I remember these infamous devices from way back in the
60s. Used to see them screwed (or even nailed) to walls in people's basements, or in cheaply-built places. Are these even legal anymore? Handy, maybe, but so too are those cheap torchiere lamps I like to call "firestarters" ...
Surface mount fixtures go back far farther than the 60s, like to the original days of interior wiring.
These are a UL-listed device and are no different functionally nor electrically than a 15A receptacle for box mounting.
As another recent thread reminded us, there are no shortages of poor installations for any type of fixture or receptacle, so any perceived fault lies in the installer/installation, not the device itself.
In their defense, I bought a case of them for future applications in outbuildings where surface mount is the convenient way to mount them. The only disadvantage of this particular design as compared to some of the older models is that these are not designed for continuous runs, receptacle to receptacle, as a standard receptacle.
It's only $1.49 plus 3.95 shipping! but I should be able to buy this in a store, like God intended. And it says it's new old stock.
What's going on appears to be lack of demand has finally caught up to them and nobody is making them any longer. The ACE here used to have a pretty good selection, but I was recently looking for surface mount light fixtures and discovered they have cleaned out the old bins and put something else in their place. Whether every store has cleaned there old stock out or not I have no idea of course, but they're no longer a stocked item. The local farm supply still has a few in the bins but they also have no new stock and no place to get them.
I bought a case of the outlets from the eBay address as they appear to be the last of the Leviton stock and when they're gone, there won't be any more. Only disappointment is these aren't the same as the design of 20 years ago -- they are UL-rated and are ok from that standpoint, but they aren't as big and don't have the lugs and access hole for point-to-point wiring as did the older ones.
I've never seen more than a four-receptacle surface mount device and it was made 50 years ago or more so is two-wire.
I did a fairly extensive search and it appears the surface mount devices have now passed into history. Unfortunate as there are still niche applications like outbuildings, etc., where they make a lot of sense and are quite practical, but tastes have changed so that they just are not considered chic and apparently there isn't sufficient demand to keep them going. I'm not aware of there being any hard prohibition by code change, but I've not done any real research on that angle.
> It's only $1.49 plus 3.95 shipping! but I should be able to buy this in a store, like God intended. And it says it's new old stock.
I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open.
I hope you are right about the reason, because I agree, that anything can be installed unsafely.
Although I still have two, a brown one and a cream-colored one, the kind with place for 3 plugs, but only if they are thin, two if they are bigger. If I were closer to being dead, I would be happy to use up all my old stuff, but I don't like it when they don't sell something anymore, and I don't have any. That's happened to too many things. Like simple dial ("analog"!) alarm clocks with snooze alarms. I saw them at a hamfest for 1.50 or 2 dollars and bought 4 of them. It turns out it is verrry hard to set the time and the alarm -- that's why they were cheap -- but I'm happy to have them anyhow.
I may have one or two other surface mount receptacles which I'm using for extension cords. I'll have to keep my eyes open about that too, and retrieve them when I see them, and replace them with some other extension cord.
The same one I posted! Cool. Oh, you mean you just did this?
Tou could see that in the picture? You couldn't have gotten them yet. It's only been 12 hours!
Well I suppose you can burn another hole with a soldering iron, but I don't know about attaching the wires.
The outlets I have have no 3rd prong, which is ok in this case because primarily it is for the big wall warts for a new burglar alarm. (This design needs two) They only have two prongs. Plus I may install a battery-backup sumppump and that will need another big wall wart. I have a wall mounted in metal box mounted on cinderblock outlet only 2 feet away, but I have put in a cheap wooden warddrobe next to the oil tank and can only reach the plugs in it with my fingertips. I think I might have created some two-foot long pliers to get things in the socket last time. Or used barbecue tongs, but it wasnt' easy. So I wanted something that I didn't have to struggle to get in. I had already plugged a 6-in-1 into the receptacle, so it was 3/4 of an inch closer than it once was, but all the story above is from after it was closer. Because wall warts and one plug are so big, that has room for only 4 plugs.
Cement walls, cinder block walls, masonite walls without empty space on the other side, any non hollow wall, on the side of chests and desks,
Yes, well, maybe I was a bit harsh there. I could see how they could be used safely. The only thing that really bugs me is using exposed "soft" (i.e., Romex) cabling; this is how they're supposed to be connected, right? But even that is an improvement over some installations: brings to mind a scene from the great movie "Gadjo Dilo" where the gypsies (Roma) steal electricity by running wires from the overhead cables directly into their houses ...
No, I did it some months ago. I didn't actually look at your specific link, but simply presumed it was the same as the one who has been unloading these for several months. At least previously the actual Leviton product number was part of the information posted.
That is a workaround that would violate the manufacturer's recommended use. Why, specifically they were designed as they were I don't know and I can't see anything about them that would make them any different in application as a similar receptacle in a box would be. But, the fact remains, the manufacturer molded the case w/ only a single entry point and puts the following sticker on them --
"NOT FOR FEED THROUGH WIRING
USE ONLY ONE 14 OR 12 AWG CONDUCTOR WITH GROUND, NON-METALLIC SHEATHED CABLE"
Consequently, I couldn't recommend making the modfication to use it in prohibition to specific instruction against it. ...
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