ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area outdoor deck mounted receptacle

I have a client who is interested in having a deck mounted receptacle. similar to the floor mounted interior receptacles.
Do you know if there is such a unit with proper whether proof cover.

Thanks.

Niko:

I have not seen anything that would be code compliant on this side of the US.

I have had many requests for these over the years for use in outdoor installations and have looked high and low.

The answer is that there is no such animal.

And all of the major players who I've asked about manufacturing something like this (Hubbell, etc.) wouldn't even touch the concept with a 10 foot pole.

Thanks guys

Would be pretty hard to keep water out of something like that.

A l-o-n-g shot maybe.
But we use industrial socket outlets that have water ingress protection to IP 66 here.
It might mean a hefty plug, but these things can be hosed down with high pressure water and not leak.

Check this link out.

I believe the question was about a receptacle that was face up, flush with the deck surface. Like a floor box, but a "deck box". You'd have to drag out your hair dryer to evaporate all the water before opening the cover.

Anything outside is a wet location so you expect some water in the box, in spite of all of those rain tight covers. We do require weather resistant devices don't we?
The trick is to be sure it doesn't accumulate enough water to trip the GFCI.
The code would still require an "in use" cover so that makes this a tad harder. Perhaps a trap door in the deck with a normally oriented receptacle under it would be the way to go.
Then you could just mount a bell box on a joist and you might even be able to get this called "damp" with the right shielding under the deck so you could use a snap cover.

sometimes you have to tell them it can,t be done

I gave them that option. and i think that is the only option.