That would work as long as the neutral is not shared somewhere on another circuit.
Installing a surface electrical box over an existing wall box?
- Thread starter y_p_w
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This part of the house has no ground wire, and it’s on a fuse.
I always taped the sides of outlets and switches with tape when the box was metal. It was a long time ago when I saw it being done and have done it ever since. I did find this statement on line, not sure if correct or not but I always would wrap tape in metal boxes.I ended up getting this. I didn’t see anything else that looked like it would work. Didn’t see the one you posted. It has hanger holes that can mount/hang on an existing box with screws. One isn’t really a hole, and the other is a keyhole. Looks kind of odd but it’s going to be hidden anyways. My only concern is possibly shorting the side terminals on the metal, but it’s pretty wide. Maybe I’ll tape up the sides with electrical tape. It will look really odd with a regular wallplate. They had a galvanized GFCI plate but I’m not sure how that would work since the holes didn’t seem to line up.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/RACO-1-Gan...dard-Box-Extender-Wall-Electrical-Box/1005005
https://www.hubbell.com/raco/en/products/p/142884
"IF it is a metal box, NEC says to ensure that energized parts can't come into contact. It doesn't prescribe a method but wrapping tape around it is a common method."
WIth that said I can not find any reference to the above statement, meaning all I can find is metal boxes need to be grounded.
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I see how the specified "GFCI cover" works now. I suppose the screws line up where a receptacle or GFCI would normally mount and any existing long screws have to be removed. I'm not near a Lowe's today, but a local hardware store apparently stocks it for a few cents more.
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Yes, they are 6/32 screws. If you have wire strippers some of them have the cutter for 6/32 and 8/32 screws. It doesn’t take much to cut them, but sometimes a pain when you booger up the thread To get the screw started.
That is knob and tube wiring, a GFCI won't work there and don't ever put more than 15Amps to it.
Turns out the solder was only two wires and no actual pigtail. I guess this must have been a different era where someone trimmed out or slid the insulator on one wire, wrapped the other wire around that straight bare segment, then soldered it together and covered it with maybe electrical tape or self-bonding rubber tape. I covered the ends with lever connectors so I didn't have to worry about it shorting.
I just cut it out and used wire nuts. It was barely enough room to trim a little bit of insulator on each wire and then add a pigtail to each pair. I didn't twist the wires, which should make it easier to redo the connection in the future, although I suppose the pigtail can be lengthened with a wire nut. I also had to try again after a used wire nut that I had handy didn't seem to bite well on three 12 AWG wires. A reused wire nut can work, but apparently they grab much better (especially with thicker/more wires) when they're new so I used out a new one. The metal spiral will deform and squish down once it's used.
I was debating whther or not to use a lever connector, but decided to connect with another pair of wire nuts to another pigtail. Even with the wire nuts, I don't think I could cram a GFCI receptacle into that box - even one of the smaller ones. It also has two long pieces of really stiff wire sheath that won't budge.
I'll just need to get the steel GFCI cover and it will be good. I did tape up the sides of the box at about the line terminal height. For whatever reason, Leviton put the line terminals down (with the ground pin down) and close to fully out, but recessed the load terminals about 1/4".
It looks OK. Fortunately it doesn't have to be seen. I will install the steel cover. And the tester doesn't show that the box is grounded.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I just cut it out and used wire nuts. It was barely enough room to trim a little bit of insulator on each wire and then add a pigtail to each pair. I didn't twist the wires, which should make it easier to redo the connection in the future, although I suppose the pigtail can be lengthened with a wire nut. I also had to try again after a used wire nut that I had handy didn't seem to bite well on three 12 AWG wires. A reused wire nut can work, but apparently they grab much better (especially with thicker/more wires) when they're new so I used out a new one. The metal spiral will deform and squish down once it's used.
I was debating whther or not to use a lever connector, but decided to connect with another pair of wire nuts to another pigtail. Even with the wire nuts, I don't think I could cram a GFCI receptacle into that box - even one of the smaller ones. It also has two long pieces of really stiff wire sheath that won't budge.
I'll just need to get the steel GFCI cover and it will be good. I did tape up the sides of the box at about the line terminal height. For whatever reason, Leviton put the line terminals down (with the ground pin down) and close to fully out, but recessed the load terminals about 1/4".
It looks OK. Fortunately it doesn't have to be seen. I will install the steel cover. And the tester doesn't show that the box is grounded.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I don't believe it's knob and tube since hot and neutral are in the same sheath. It's certainly not modern wiring, and I think some of the wiring insulation is rubber or really thick plastic. It's certainly not grounded.
Just looking at the neutral, since the hot is covered in tape, that's not knob & tube wiring.
Oh I see now. I didn't notice there were 2 conductors on each side, just saw the 2 jackets coming into the box, my mistake.
Yeah, my mistake.
Yeah. But it is older than me, and it would be a huge pain to replace. No doubt it would be a good idea to eventually replace all this. Probably when the house gets wall insulation.
I did find a few outlets stopped working and then rechecked my work. Tested the outlets, but then figured that at least one wire wasn't secured by a wire nut. I pulled the extender box, checked that wire nut, and one hot wire slipped right out. That must have been the wire going down to the next box. I was having problems with that wire bundle, so I just went to a bigger wire nut and it's definitely on securely.
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3-12s you’ll definitely want a tan or red wire nut
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That’s 2 wire cloth Romex
Color seems to be approximate. I also ended up with several orange wire nuts that are labeled as "P3" sized and made by Heavy Power. Some are orange while I guess yellow is the most common for that size.
But yeah I went with a red. Three can fit in a yellow if everything is perfect.
Nah - it's one upstream pair and another downstream pair. And I had a problem with the connection which killed the downstream power. I just redid the nut with a bigger one, although I don't think I could handle it if I had trim any more. I've seen even tighter connections inside a box, but with Romex. I guess some electricians like showing off.
Why ? Copper wire hidden in wall cavities doesn't wear out. The only issue is when you have to touch it.
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