Would this get spanked by an U.S. electrical code inspector ?

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Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,201
Hi. As titled,
- A porcelain socket as those used in flood lamp fixtures,
- firmly mounted in a round electrical box,
- With an electrical box cover perforated to screw a
- plain 9W LED light bulb,
- installed on a ceiling with Romex 14.
upload_2019-10-10_18-7-23.png
upload_2019-10-10_18-8-5.png
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
As pictured I see no problem. The only potential problem is that assuming the AWG 14 feed is on a 15 amp breaker the fixture uses a standard lamp base so there is nothing to prevent a future owner from placing any much higher rated bulb in the socket. That alone is not a problem as long as the fixture is properly mounted. You need to know the ratings of the fixture and make sure it is mounted correctly. That is my best guess. :)

Ron
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
My immediate thought was Gee, I don't what those are rated for? Go by the breaker size and ratings of the devices must be at least as high as the breaker rating. On bulb fixtures, there are sometimes marked Watt ratings for incandescent bulbs that should not be exceeded but replacing them with an LED or fluorescent bulb device is fine as far as I know. You don't want a lower amp device than the breaker rating to overheat/fail and burn up without tripping the breaker. It's a balancing act.
 

gramps

Joined Dec 8, 2014
86
To answer the question in the title: It depends on how closely the inspector looks. Your finished product looks nice and they may not notice that you have modified the round electrical box. A lot of inspectors don't like that......Not sure if it actually is against NEC though.
 

Thread Starter

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,201
Thanks.
I did not understand you fully, SamR.
And the largest bulb to fit a E26 socket that I know of is under 2 Amperes

gramps... yes, the round box is drilled, with a screw+nut holding the ceramic socket similar to



And... What to do with the Romex ground conductor inside the plastic round box with plastic cover and plastic bulb ?
 
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strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Those fixtures are made of porcelain for the same reason gas heater inserts are. Heat. Probably Won't be a problem with your 9W LED bulb but if someone goes and sticks a 100W PAR lamp in there it could melt that fixture right out of the ceiling. That's where an inspector's thoughts would be too. If they noticed it. I doubt they would.

Personally I think it's a pretty clever idea, but ultimately a bad move.
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
There ya go! I've seen some fixtures marked 60W. No Idea what you do with the bare GND in triplex cable with plastic boxes unless the fixture has a ground lug to terminate it. What does concern me is it has 18AWG on it instead of 14AWG.
 
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