Hello:
I have an odd situation where I want to install conduit in an unfinished basement with concrete walls, just to protect the wires going up a wall about 2-3 feet to the ceiling. Also, my primary expertise is in low voltage / alarm, not residential electric.
I'm using two Levition X-10 home lighting controls in a double gang grey PCV box right now. I used 3/4" grey PVC conduit to go up the wall.
Here's the problem. One of two the older Leviton switches went bad, and the new one has five wires instead of the two wires the old one had. Now, all those wires won't fit inside the grey Carlon double gang box! For a reason I don't understand, Carlon does not appear to make these boxes any deeper than the one size you can get at Home Depot.
I spent a long time in the Depot looking at different boxes that would have more cubic inches inside them, with no luck so far. I don't want to use a mud ring to extend a 4" box if I can avoid it, because it is going to look terrible on an unfinished wall. I got some red dot boxes to try, but I'm not convinced they will have enough space in them either. I thought about putting each switch in it's own single gang grey PVC box, but again that will look terrible!
The Leviton home lighting controls are quite large, wide, and deep, and need a deep box to fit in there correctly. I need something they would fit in that is double gang. I also know from learning the hard way that many devices will not fit in a double gang box side by side if there is conduit coming into the center hole of the box unless you have a mud ring extender on there the devices hit the conduit!
Lastly, technically, are you allowed by NEC and common practice to mix PVC conduit and metal boxes? (I understand the grounding issues with having to make sure the metal box is properly grounded in a situation like this.)
Is there a simple solution I am overlooking for a deep double gang box that will work in an unfinished wall application with conduit? (!)
Thank You,
Lee B.
I have an odd situation where I want to install conduit in an unfinished basement with concrete walls, just to protect the wires going up a wall about 2-3 feet to the ceiling. Also, my primary expertise is in low voltage / alarm, not residential electric.
I'm using two Levition X-10 home lighting controls in a double gang grey PCV box right now. I used 3/4" grey PVC conduit to go up the wall.
Here's the problem. One of two the older Leviton switches went bad, and the new one has five wires instead of the two wires the old one had. Now, all those wires won't fit inside the grey Carlon double gang box! For a reason I don't understand, Carlon does not appear to make these boxes any deeper than the one size you can get at Home Depot.
I spent a long time in the Depot looking at different boxes that would have more cubic inches inside them, with no luck so far. I don't want to use a mud ring to extend a 4" box if I can avoid it, because it is going to look terrible on an unfinished wall. I got some red dot boxes to try, but I'm not convinced they will have enough space in them either. I thought about putting each switch in it's own single gang grey PVC box, but again that will look terrible!
The Leviton home lighting controls are quite large, wide, and deep, and need a deep box to fit in there correctly. I need something they would fit in that is double gang. I also know from learning the hard way that many devices will not fit in a double gang box side by side if there is conduit coming into the center hole of the box unless you have a mud ring extender on there the devices hit the conduit!
Lastly, technically, are you allowed by NEC and common practice to mix PVC conduit and metal boxes? (I understand the grounding issues with having to make sure the metal box is properly grounded in a situation like this.)
Is there a simple solution I am overlooking for a deep double gang box that will work in an unfinished wall application with conduit? (!)
Thank You,
Lee B.