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I purchased a new home a year ago, since that time I have discovered I have a single pole light switch on an exterior wall that I can’t find what it operates. I have checked all the outlet’s top and bottom in all the surrounding rooms. No luck.I have asked the builder several times if he knows what it could operate. No luck. I have asked the electrician if he has a schematic that he worked from when wiring the house. No luck. I also asked if he knew of any way I can find out where it goes and what it operates. No luck, he has no clue. I have a feeling that it might have been run to serve an outside spotlight, of which I have none. I even looked in the attic along the outside wall (pulled back the insulation), for a coiled up wire, waiting for a spotlight to be attached. No luck. Does anyone know of a way I can trace this wire to find where it goes without tearing down the wall?
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Mark, Could it be controlling an outside receptacle??
I don't have any real dependable way to do this, but I would open up the box and check to see if there is juice going into the box. Check it with an inductive voltage tester. See which breaker feeds it if it's hot. Maybe the breaker is labeled to give you a clue.
Otherwise, I would disconnect the wires and cap them off. No need to take a chance on having some buried hot wires downstream from the switch.
If you normally keep it switched off, and haven't noticed anything not working in a years time, it's a good bet it's coiled up in some box, somewhere!
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The house I live in has a switch like that, and the orginal owner was an electrician (who did not do his own wiring!). I'm sure I've run accross spurious switches elsewhere more than once. I have no idea how it happens.
Rich Beckman
*Future post lamp? Look in the crawlspace or basement for the coiled up wire or junction box.Know anyone who works for Miss Utility? You could open up the switch box so the transmitter could be attached to the switched wire and their receivers could trace the wire.Frank
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In Canada it's been code to supply a Christmas lighting outlet, usually we put a switched recepticle in the soffit...maybe it was forgotten at the trim stage. A big electric outfit should have a wire tracer. I would certainly recommend checking both sides of the switch (in the on position) to see if it's hot.
Bakdo
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The wire tracer is the way to go. You hook it to the outbound leads and it makes a low power radio transmission. You use a handheld device to follow it along walls, floors, etc. It will also identify breakers when used in reverse - to trace the feed.
-Rob
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If you flip it once a day for a while you'll get a call from Germany or somewhere telling you to stop messing with it...
And an archaic fewmet to the person who knows where I swiped that from...
*Sounds like British comedian David Allen.Knew of wellmet but do not know of fewmet. Will look up at home.Chris
*Mark--Have you considered that the switch may operate only one receptacle of a duplex outlet? If you rule that out, Kill power to the house...Open up the mystery switch box and look to see how many cables enter the box.If only one cable, and the black and the white wires are connected to the switch terminals, what you're looking at is a "switch leg". The cable should go to a (light) fixture box or to an outlet box, where it picks up power and feeds it to a load. If you see two cables, power up, then check to see if one is hot (that's power coming into the box). The other cable then should go to a load (light or outlet), BUT as others have said, that outlet may never have been installed (or wired in), or it may be covered up by sheathing/siding or drywall. If there are two cables and neither is hot, it's possible that someone missed a splice upstream of the switchbox (or maybe the cable or just the hot conductor was cut during construction--it happens).In your quest, keep track of whether the power is off or on...also warn people around and tape the terminal screws to keep errant fingers or dog/cat noses away. Once you're figured out where power is coming from and that it has a way out, try to trace it... If you can't borrow or buy a wire tracer, try this: get a cheap portable radio. Extend the antenna in different orientations and see how much 60-cycle hum you can pick up from an extension cord...then try to pick up the 60 HZ hum from a hot wire in the wall. If the radio's good (meaning bad) enough, you just may be able to trace a live wire with it.If all else fails, pay an electrician with a tracer and the experience to use it..someone who specializes in old work/troubleshooting.Good luck.
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If I were to bet money on this, which I won't, I would say that there was an outlet that was supposed to be half-switched. The elcectrician wired everything right, but forgot to break off the tab to separate the two halves of the outlet.
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Sorry ChrisT, no go. Hint - this side of the pond...
*I'm thnking it's a comedian from an earlier era.Maybe Buddy Hackett???
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Steven Wright. Not sure I've got the spelling right.
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How about a different perspective. When I built my house, I installed components of Leviton's X-10 system. One transmitter was backordered, so the electrician left the hot wire in the box, capped and taped the leads, and put a cover over the box. When the part came in, all was ready for the installation.
Maybe this box was intended for an X-10 component and the owner never got around to installing it?
*Righto! One archaic fewmet for you. Or a bunch, if you're really twisted.
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Lisa, my ignorance is showing. What be a fewmet? Let alone an archaic one.
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Thanks to all who responded to my question. Sounds like the wire tracer is the way to go. I'd also like to say that I'm new to this discussion board stuff, but I think it's great. Lot's of great idea's and helpful hints.
Thanks again. Mark
*Mark, where is your sense of adventure? Your dictionary? Your classical education? Ya Ya I know, Lisa shut up.A fewmet is the term used by huntsmen to describe animal droppings. Several pieces in Literature classics go on for PAGES about them...An archaic one is an old dried or fossilized animal dropping. They really do exist; matter of fact, several freinds are members of the Order of Archaic Fewmets. That is right - they are OAFs. Now you know what kind of people I hang out with (and who I get my dirty limericks from). Ta Ta
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Mark?????? Granted they are both monosyllabic names but not quite the same sound. Classical education? NO way! Drama major - didn't have to learn any thing, just memorize stuff other people wrote. Could also explain why I'm just about done with a two year degree in automation.Ken
*i would first pull the switch out and see if it is actually "hot" if it is where is it feeding from? Can you get in the attic and find where the wire is running into the switch box? Where does it go from there.....
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Sorry Ken -- I was in a hurry and had a brain fart... Drama major - that could be fun on the job. Declaim Hamlet while roof sheathing, mutter King Lear while in the cellar...
Perhaps a new competition at the Fest...
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Trouble is when I do, it doesn't stand out 'cause I work with a whole bunch of liberal arts majors.Ya see, for the last 15 years I've been fabricating theatre scenery.
*Lisa,If I may take two stabs in the dark, I would say either Jack Benny or Tim Allen.Pete
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Sorry darlin, them fewmets has already been won. I'd be leery about stabbing things in the dark though...never know when you'll hit a tiger.
:-)
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I purchased a new home a year ago, since that time I have discovered I have a single pole light switch on an exterior wall that I can't find what it operates. I have checked all the outlet's top and bottom in all the surrounding rooms. No luck.I have asked the builder several times if he knows what it could operate. No luck. I have asked the electrician if he has a schematic that he worked from when wiring the house. No luck. I also asked if he knew of any way I can find out where it goes and what it operates. No luck, he has no clue. I have a feeling that it might have been run to serve an outside spotlight, of which I have none. I even looked in the attic along the outside wall (pulled back the insulation), for a coiled up wire, waiting for a spotlight to be attached. No luck. Does anyone know of a way I can trace this wire to find where it goes without tearing down the wall?