Help! Extension cord for in wall wiring!
I went to fix a wobbly outlet in our house last weekend and found that some lunatic had run an extension cord through the wall cavity and used it to wire up the outlet.
When we bought the house I made an electrical map of all outlets, lights and switches so I’d know which breaker to flip if I needed to work on something (I still test though!). This outlet is not connected to any circuit on the main floor, but instead is part of one of the circuits upstairs.
Does anyone know of a GOOD device or method that will trace the path of the extension cord behind the drywall? I haven’t tried one of the stud finders that’s supposed to do that, maybe they actually work? Or not? I suppose I could cut the wire off, wire nut and tape the end, but I’d like to pull it clear out if I can.
What complicates matters is that the wire goes upstairs, through the downstairs ceiling to connect to something.
Replies
try to find an Amprobe wire tracer, similar to an AT -2005.
$$$ though
For starters, start taking off outlet and switch covers upstairs and use a flashlight to look for the connection.
Since you have made a map of your circuits, you should be able to figure out which circuit that extention cord is powered from. Once you've pinpointed that, kill that circuiut and pull the trim plates on the outlets on it until you find the extention cord. Then disconnect it.
Now, if you get lucky, the guy who wired it in didn't staple it down anywhere, so you could use the extension cord to pull a length of NMD to replace it with. If you don't get lucky on that score, cut both ends of the extension cord clean, fold the ends over and tape them down. Attach a note to each end stating the wire is DEAD, date the note and sign it. After that you can forget it's there. There is no point busting up finish work to remove a dead wire like that.
You can rewire the downstairs outlet to a nearby downstairs circuit.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Chances are it's fed from a wall outlet directly above it. Someone who'd do that is unlikely to have put much effort into fancy fishing. You may even be able to use the cord to pull in romex and convert this to a legal installation.
-- J.S.
Re: "Chances are it's fed from a wall outlet directly above it. Someone who'd do that is unlikely to have put much effort into fancy fishing. You may even be able to use the cord to pull in romex and convert this to a legal installation."Exactly what I was thinking. Tie on the appropriate length of NM and use the cord to pull it in and he is golden.Once worked on a house with quite a bit of improvisational wire use. A couple of receptacles run in lamp cord and a run of 20 gauge speaker wire stiffed into a gap of the paneling and caulked in to run the hall light immediately comes to mind. I guess for some folks wire is wire. Scary.
Happy Halloween.
A couple people mentioned legal installations......does anyone know if code says 12 wire has to go to outlets? 14 can only be used for switches and lights? And you can't run 12 from a switch or light to an outlet?
In most jurisdictions (of the US) #14 is legal on any standard 15A circuit, whether powering lighting fixtures or outlets. The outlet should be a 15A outlet (two straight slots) vs a 20A one (one straight slot and one T slot). Generally, outlets and fixtures can be on the same circuit.If the fuse/breaker is 20A, though, all wire must be #12.If you try to pull the new wire through with the old one, don't tie the two wires together. Rather first pull through a piece of 1/8" braided cord or some such, using the old wire, and then pull the new wire with that.
--------------
No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.
If the house is old enough, they probably used "balloon construction" and there won't be a separate stud cavity for the first and second floors. The cord may just be hanging down to the first floor box. Get an inspection mirror(about $7 at Sears- comes with a lifetime warranty since it's a Craftsman tool) and, with a flashlight, look into the cavity.
Good ideas everyone, thank you. I'll get to work using them and if any more weirdness shows up, I'll check back.
I have a GB brand GET-1200 that works pretty well. Got at our local HW store for about $40, IIRC. Has one gizmo you plug in the outlet, then you follow the signal with another gizmo. Similar to the devices sold by several other companies, I'm sure.
However, since you know the guy was a cheap, lazy bum, you know that the wire isn't following a very difficult route. Figure out the path of least resistance.
No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.