ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Receptacles, radial or daisy chain?

The same can be done by going box to box through the attic - fish down both ends from above.

"Keep in mind if the attic above could ever be finished these junction boxes will be a problem."

Luckily, that is unlikely. I am told, it is more of a crawl space than an attic.

Here's a similar principle which was once used to centralize lighting/switch wiring in some British homes:
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum5/HTML/001312.html

That is a very interesting looking box. Very orderly yet, kind of intimidating to look at

quote"You also have 5 whites under that big "cludge" nut. Electrically this is fine but mechanically it can be a chore to get this all back in there."

Agreed. The big groupings can be split up by bridging a single conductor between two sets of wire nut splices. That one conductor will be no different than the home run conductor. That will make folding the two sets back in the box less taxing than the single bunch, and for my two cents worth, a safer splice than a bunch all stuffed into a big blue wirenut.

The old Austrian/German version was: have a big junction box in the wall, usually where the feed enters the room and one in a direct line from the ceiling light fixture, parallel to the joists/beams. If you're lucky those two can be combined. Then distribute additional boxes to achieve runs to every receptacle and switch with no more than one 90 degree conduit bend. For example if you have 3 receptacles on one wall, put a box above the center one, run the feed straight down and to the left and right. Once painted or papered over the blank covers are still accessible (though you could argue if the paper job is done too well) but not too obtrusive.
Of course, using cable instead of conduit allows having more bends, but still, that method makes it REAL easy to figure out the layout servicing that install. Like you have the aforementioned 3 receptacle boxes, ech with the feed entering from the top. Above the center receptacle you have a junction box with two conduits from the left, one from below and one to the right - easy to guess the top left is the feed and the other three feed the receptacles.

Radial or daisy-chain? I never quite thought of it in those terms.

Both are completely acceptable to me.

"Radial" seems to be the preference for running pipe, and where junction boxes are very accessible.

"Daisy chain" is most often found where Romex, MC, or some other sort of cable is used.

The method chosen seems to be determined more by the overall construction style, than any 'merit' to the various methods. For example, in those places that require pipe, a receptacle is far more likely to be tied into the one a floor above it, than to another one on the same wall. This is because it's a lot easier to drill one hole in a top plate, than a hole in every stud.

IanR,
One handy trick I have found works well for cutting in old-work boxes is to cut the plaster with a 2" grinding wheel chucked up in a drill motor or other rotary tool. The lath and plaster does not seem to break up as badly. This works pretty well with tile and brick also. You would want to have a vaccuum running to catch the dust.

Or else use a variable speed jigsaw to cut a receptacle into the baseboard using slow speed so as not to shake the wall (orienting the box horizontally instead of vertically). A dark brown receptacle and cover blends with the wood.

"Radial".

I've always called that method "Umbrella".

Some guys whose house blog I'm reading complained recently they would like to have baseboard receptacles in their new addition but code doesn't allow it because they would be below some minimum heigth... don't know where in the U.S. they're located.