What are your thoughts on these fixtures and the way that this one is installed? (this is a clothes closet)

Bill

call the bomb squad...

Bill:

Violates 410-8 because "lampholders" are not allowed in a clothes closet. This is not a "fixture", common error by many calling it one.

Joe,

Thanks for the correction, I should have put the word in 'quotes' as I was not sure what to call it. Were these ever legal for use in clothes closets? I'm also wondering about the situation with the cord being stapled and passing through the doorway. I would think that for these 'Lampholders' to be used a receptacle would have to be on the inside of a closet, which I'll bet was not the standard mode of installation.

Bill

Bill: Only "fixture" of special types identified in 410-8 are allowed in "clothes closets", I'll bet if we knew who made the product you show here, that the instructions say not to use it in a clothes closes, although I may be wrong --- but who knows -- and we still can buy non dead front cord caps with discs!

They missed a couple of spots when they painted the extension cord.
Any idea where that other plugged in cord goes?

electure,

Yes, I do know about the other cord. It goes to a second doorway to the right that leads to the Garage. Yeah, you have to go through a small coat closet to get to the Garage! Kinda neat having secret doors like that. I don't like these lights in there though, or the cord stapled and passing through the doorway.

The house itself is hidden from the street by the landscaping and I couldn't even get in their driveway more than 10 feet because it is made up of several sharp turns designed specifically to disguise itself. I passed it 3 times without seeing it the first time I went there. Someone spent a lot of time and expense laying out the property.

Bill

I've often seen similar techniques for closet wiring in this country.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a non-dead front cord cap? I've often seen references to dead-front plugs etc. but never quite been able to figure out what it refers to.

Here is what I meant about non-dead front:

Paul,

To add a little to Joes'icture there the plastic 'shield' (?) comes off and there are exposed screw terminals below with the stranded wires wrapped around them.

Joe,

Are door-jamb switches considered as being outside the closet?

Bill

Looks like they (the wires) are inside?

Joe,

"Looks like they (the wires) are inside?"

So what would your call be on allowing this switch 'in' a clothes closet?

You knew I had a reason for asking, right?


Bill

Bill: I have no problem with this type of device and have also intalled many during my career.

Ah, so you remove that shield from the front (prong side) to terminate the wires, right?

"Dead front" is like the U.S. plugs I have here where the wires are attached from the back ??

Here is a dead front device.

Bill, I think you'd like this place www.winchestermysteryhouse.com
I went there when I was about 10 yrs old

Thanks for the pic Joe. That looks like the ones I have.

I guess that would make almost all of our plugs here the dead-front type, although there were some old 2-pin types made in the the past that were wired from the front.

I had some "DIY" closet light switches in this house when I moved into it. Someone had screwed microswitches (roller-arm type) to the door frames and glued thin stips of balsa wood around them to cover the live terminals!

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-31-2001).]

electure,

That place sure sounds interesting! We'd probably have to get the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in on this one.

Hey, I thought that Jimmy Stewart invented the Winchester?

Bill

I'm not sure that the different colorations are because of paint (alone). Could some of that be heat damage? I also note that the bulb is one of those tougher -and hotter- halogen types. Could the closed door contact the bulb? I think that heat, and not electric per se, is the main fire hazzard here.
Is this a rental? It almost looks like it was done by someone who didn't plan on staying for long.

While on the subject. What about a switch-controlled receptacle mounted 80" high on the side wall of a pantry with a plug-in fluorescent mounted above the door?

John,

I think that's just paint and a standard type bulb. No, it's not a rental, but just another case of someones "ingenuity". There were a number of other examples around the House that I may have pictures of somewhere.

Bill

Showed this picture around- and I was amazed that EVERYONE opined that this was a set-up for growing "wacky tabacky"- are you telling us everything about this stealthy dwelling?

John,


Just a closet lite, honest!!


Bill

(with complete risk of faux pas...)

A 400W metal halide would be more convincing...

What happened to the enclosed bulb rule.Here
on long island we have to have an enclosed fixture rule.NO exposed bulbs in closets,no switches in closets,no outlets in closets.WE find these in closets all the time who manufactures these fixtures and why are they used in clothes closets????

And why do they feed thru with additional plugs this is not good???

looks like they got their 12" distance though..lol