Hair dryer outlet in vanity drawer
Hi folks:
I would like put an electrical outlet in the back of a bathroom vanity drawer so that my wife can keep her hairdryer plugged into the outlet and then just have to open the drawer and pull out the hairdryer, ready-to-go. Does anyone have any design ideas for such a idea? Do you know of a manufacturer/supplier that makes such a plug. I’m trying to figure out what type of cord/wiring I would need from the outlet in the back of the drawer to a fixed outlet in the wall. I don’t think I can use romeck because it is not made to be moved and flexed that repeated drawer opening would cause. I don’t know if there is a special type of wire or maybe a curled pigs tail type wire that could be used to withstand the flexing and not get tangled up in the drawer extension hardware. Thanks for any useful insight/suggestions.
Lance
Replies
Don't make the outlet moveable - it's not needed. You only need to move the curling iron.
1. Place a normal well wired outled behind the drawer in the wall, or surface mount it to the wall and adjust accordingly.
2. Move the back of the drawer forward 2" (or more if you surfaced mounted the outlet.
3. Cut a slot in the drawer back. Plug the curling iron in and feed it through the slot.
4. Give enough slack to pull the drawer fully out, then tape or tack that amount to the back of the drawer so you never pull more than that out the front of the drawer.
You could get fancy and use a closet door switch that would only activate the outlet when the drawer was open.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
If your hair looks funny, it's because God likes to scratch his nuts. You nut, you.
I have had just such a setup in my house for 27 years. We used 12ga stranded wire connected to an old-fashioned surface-mount outlet. I think if I were doing it today I would use a heavy duty appliance pigtail connected to a three-prong outlet in fairly shallow box in the back of the drawer with a screw-down NM cable connector to hold the cable snugly in place.
Mount your receptacle upside down so one of those hair driers with 90deg angled plugs doesn't tend to get pulled out.
Built a BR vanity for DW about 20 years ago, and put a large slide-out that has her dryer, two curling irons, and a hot plate for coffee plugged into a four outlet surface mount recepticle that is wired with an HD extension cord and plugged into an outlet behind the vanity.
You can get the one ended extension cords at most any HD or Lowes.
You could always put a power strip in too. Splice a longer cord and yer done.
sounds allot like a kitchen appliance garage, electrical code is spefic for them for good reason, dbl check the code for them ..
Much better than the drawer idea is a medicine cabinet with an electrical package:
http://catalog.robern.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=484809&prod_num=MP16D4FRE&module=Designlogic+Series+M+Cabinets
The 5 1/2" deep ones could easily hold the hairdryer - and her curling irons. Up tite and outta site.
I'd agre with Wane here. I would bet the farm that my electrical safety authority inspector would blow his own fuse over this one. I think it is courting disaster. Make sure your fire insurance is up to snuff. I would definitely check with your local inspector on this one. Last thing you need is to burn down your house with unpermitted wiring.
Have a good day
Cliffy
I have to agree with the warnings. It is almost certainly a code violation.
Yes, it would probably be just fine for many years, maybe forever, but there's always a chance of the drawer mechanism pinching a cord, or the switch getting bumped into the 'On' position, or someone stowing an appliance without turning it off...yadda yadda yadda.... Be safe.
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.â€
Regular curling irons don't get hot enough to cause combustion or there would be a lot of bald blondes running around.
A hair dryer running is not something you could miss.
Took the vanity apart two years ago when I remodeled the MBR, and checked wiring and recepticle, and no problems with wear.
IMHO, "code" is ridiculous sometimes...