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Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here.
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Posted by Wayne Whitney on June 13, 2008, 10:59 am
> Facing you is a box with a three way switch for the ceiling light, a
> double switch for two outdoor lights and an outlet. On the other
> side of the wall there are four switches controlling a
> fan/heater/night light/light combination.
and
> The boxes are 3x2x2 so, in the three gang, I am allowed 3*(5-2) = 9
> #14 wires is that correct?
Yes, the triple 3x2x2 can handle 9 #14s plus the 3 devices. And you
have 4 wires going into the box, so if they are all 14/2, you have 4*2
+ 1 allowance for the grounds = 9 allowances. But you say that there
is a three way switch, so one of those wires must be a 14/3. Now you
are up to 10 allowances and the box is overfilled.
As to the quadruple box below, it has a volume of 40 in^3. If all of
the cables going into the box are 2 conductor (plus ground), you have
(3) 14/2s and (2) 12/2s. So that's 6*2 (the 14/2s) + 4*2.25 (the
12/2s) + 1*2.25 (all the grounds) + 3*2*2 (the 3 switches with 14s) +
2*2.25 (the switch with the 12s) = 39.75 in^3. So it just works--as
long as you don't have any internal wire clamps.
BTW, is the fan/heater/night light/light all on one circuit? Just
curious.
Cheers, Wayne
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Posted by Aaron Fude on June 13, 2008, 1:04 pm
Thanis Wayne!
One final question.
What good would slack outside the box do me, since the romex anchors
have bolts tightened outside the electrical box and they would be
inaccessible?
Thanks.
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Posted by Wayne Whitney on June 13, 2008, 3:12 pm
> What good would slack outside the box do me, since the romex anchors
> have bolts tightened outside the electrical box and they would be
> inaccessible?
IMO, slack outside the box isn't a big deal and isn't worth redoing
the job. Box overfill or not running the neutral conductor with the
hot conductor would be reasons to redo the job. It seems like either
the upper box is overfull, or you are running your 3-way switch
travelers on 14/2 and getting your neutral elsewhere. In either case
that's a problem.
To answer your question, if you need more cable in the box, then if
there is no slack you have to add a junction box or rerun the whole
thing. If you have slack outside the box but tightened, you'd have to
open the wall to get it, but that would probably still be easier and
involve less damage than the alternative. But with 10" of wire in the
box, you probably won't ever need more.
Yours, Wayne
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