Where to run the wire....

[Jon Danniken]

Installing a 10K BTU A/C (8A) for a relative. The outlet to be used is on the far end of a daisy chain of a half-dozen other outlets and two ceiling lights.

It looks like I'll be running a dedicated wire for this outlet.

The outlet in question is two feet from an exterior corner, and about a foot off of the ground.

All of the wires in the house go up from the breaker box, and route around in the attic to whatever header they drop down from. There isn't a wire coming out of the header above the outlet in question (nor the adjacent one), leading me to believe it goes horizontal through it's daisy chain.

If I run the wire up to the attic, I have to fish through wall insulation, a firebreak, and the header, which has about 10" of working room in the attic. Did I mention the 18" of blown insulation?

If I drop the wire down to the crawl space, I have to make a 90 degree bend in the 4"x6" footer (down from above, into from below), and will have to cut out two kicker panels for work access (one below the outlet and one below the breaker box in the utility room).

I'm thinking my best bet will be to run the wire down.

What say you?

Jon

[RBM]

I would drill through the double plate in the attic, and snake down to a new outlet location. Don't try to refeed an existing outlet. Unless the wall of the room in question is over 8 feet, there is probably no obstruction in it except insulation. A wire fish tape (snake) should go through it easily

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[Jon Danniken]

Aye, they are indeed eight foot walls, but there is a firebreak at the midpoint at about four feet up.

Jon

[RBM]

[Jon Danniken]

I think it's code here, my house also has them for eight foot walls.

Jon

[aemeijers]

It's a window AC. It is ugly anyway, and the pigtail is ugly, too. Run the new string through the crawlspace, and come up through the baseboard. Put the dedicated single-hole outlet in one of those surface-mount boxes that are designed to use in a big living room under the long skinny table that goes behind the couch sitting in the middle. If you buy a pretty box, and notch the baseboard so it backs up against the wall surface, nobody will look twice at it.

[Bob F]

If you have the working space, a long flex drill could get you through the firestop, or a shorter one might be angledfrom the box hole to the outside of the wall and back to the inside wall at the bottom so as to angle through the bottom footer.

[John Grabowski]

*What I usually do when there is limited attic access is cut a hole in the wall (Using my 45 degree cut technique) close to the ceiling and drill up into the attic. The hole in the wall should be big enough so that your drill will fit inside so you can at least drill straight and not angled towards the outside. I push a fishtape up several feet into the attic. I then go up in the attic with a fiberglass rod with a hook on it and grab the fishtape. I pull the wire down from the attic.

Fiberglass rods go through insulated walls better than a fishtape. However you will need to cut a hole and drill through that fire block so a fishtape might suffice.

Use 12/2 for the A/C line. I would cut in a separate box for the A/C and leave the existing boxes and wiring alone.

[jamesgangnc]

Difficult to suggest without seeing. There's no way you drill from the crawl at an angle so that you come out inside the wall space? I have successfully done that in other situations when coming up from the crawl to an exterior wall.

[Jon Danniken]

Interesting, I hadn't thought of going through to the outside. Thanks.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

Thanks A, I appreciate it.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

You know, I've done the drill access at the footer before, but somehow I didn't carry the idea over to the header. Thanks!

Jon

[Steve Barker]

I'd just plug it into the existing outlet and be done. You stated in the original message it was only 8a. Even on a 15a circuit, this still leaves plenty for the 'couple o' lights' and the other outlets. Unless it's a microwave plugged into the other outlets, you will never know the difference.

[Bob F]

To avoid confusion, I wasn't saying to go through the outside, but to flex the shaft of the drill from the box hole, out against the outside and back to the inside in an arc so that it angles back towards the inside where it drills through the bottom plate right against the insode wall. You would need a helper tool of some sort to get the flex right probably.

[Bob F]

The vacuum could be a problem.

[RBM]

That can be a very tricky task in a wall filled with fiberglass insulation

[Steve Barker]

Not if you plug it in a different circuit. Or turn the air off whilst doing such things.

[HeyBub]

Depends on how close you are to this "relative." For a distant in-law, consider running the wire in a conduit attached to the outside of the house, then through the wall at the desired location.

Should take about an hour and you won't have to muck around in the attic or crawl space (where there might be spiders and other icky things).

[Jon Danniken]

Thanks for all of the responses, they were appreciated.

I ended up running the wire in the crawl space, but I did follow the advice of several and installed it into a new outlet (left the existing outlet alone). Also, I picked up one of the long flexible bits, which kept from having to cut big access panels into the wall. Always wanted one of those, and when the local hardware store (Ace) agreed to price match an internet price, it was too good of a deal to pass up.

Took a little longer than I would have liked to, but it's done, and that's what counts.

Jon

[John Grabowski]

*Thank you for posting back with the results.