EC&M Magazine, Cookie Tin Light Fix

[jmellc]

November issue of EC&M, Illustrated Catastrophes, page 23. Someone put a cookie tin over a ceiling box, mounted a pull chain light to the lid, threaded leads through & pigtailed to ceiling wiring. Then secured lid to tin with side screws.

Naturally, as the writer points out, no grounding & sharp edges. Not UL approved. I have to laugh at it but sad thing is, I see much worse than this every day. If I saw this in some houses I would think "at least someone tried to fix it with what he had available. I see open fixtures hanging from wires, sometimes, just bare sockets hanging down. Receptacles hanging out of walls & being used, open lights & receptacles hanging in muddy crawl spaces, etc. I see space heater receptacles tapped from range outlets, with 14-2 NM. Range outlet fused at 40-60 amps. Open panels are nothing unusual either. Most customers will not or cannot pay to fix it all either. Will only pay to fix the 1 or 2 items out at the time.

Welcome to residential work. If I ever get a larger base of commercial customers, I would love to make residential a distant memory.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Here is the pic and here is the webpage talked about.

 

[roger]

I'm not defending it but, I like it.


Roger

 

[zbang]

It does get a couple of points for creativity.

 

[Strathead]

I'm not defending it but, I like it.


Roger

My thoughts exactly! I am guessing the steel thickness is less than 1.59mm as required by code section 314.40B. but otherwise, what else would actually make this illegal?

 

[ActionDave]

I'm not defending it but, I like it.


Roger

Thank you. I have been making and selling those at the flea market for years.

 

[hillbilly1]

We have quite a few business's around here (mostly BBQ restaurants) that have porcelain lamp holders screwed to the underside of a wash tub as a light fixture hanging from a chain. I wish I had a picture, but alas, no! Most of them are not grounded, and a couple of strips of electrical tape is put across the terminals to keep it from shorting out.:roll:

 

[ptonsparky]

November issue of EC&M, Illustrated Catastrophes, page 23. Someone put a cookie tin over a ceiling box, mounted a pull chain light to the lid, threaded leads through & pigtailed to ceiling wiring. Then secured lid to tin with side screws.

Naturally, as the writer points out, no grounding & sharp edges. Not UL approved. I have to laugh at it but sad thing is, I see much worse than this every day. If I saw this in some houses I would think "at least someone tried to fix it with what he had available. I see open fixtures hanging from wires, sometimes, just bare sockets hanging down. Receptacles hanging out of walls & being used, open lights & receptacles hanging in muddy crawl spaces, etc. I see space heater receptacles tapped from range outlets, with 14-2 NM. Range outlet fused at 40-60 amps. Open panels are nothing unusual either. Most customers will not or cannot pay to fix it all either. Will only pay to fix the 1 or 2 items out at the time.

Welcome to residential work. If I ever get a larger base of commercial customers, I would love to make residential a distant memory.

Do no expect commercial customers to be any less creative.

 

[hillbilly1]

Do no expect commercial customers to be any less creative.

Exactly, the only thing that keeps that from being as prevalent in commercial is fear of lawsuits, and even then it's not much of a deterrent!

 

[cadpoint]

Oh if they where a real mechanic they should have installed it up right and tapped the lid(better). At least they could enjoy the illustration more... My Father made a sharper looking lamp with the animal crackers tin! Come on pickers!

 

[K8MHZ]

Oh if they where a real mechanic they should have installed it up right and tapped the lid(better). At least they could enjoy the illustration more... My Father made a sharper looking lamp with the animal crackers tin! Come on pickers!

I disagree. You would just see the plain old unpainted bottom of the can, then.

Better to seek designs that have no 'right side up'. I would also recommend losing the label. The label is what makes it tacky looking.

 

[kwired]

Probably does help with the supply conductors not being rated for 90^oC though

 

[jmellc]

Do no expect commercial customers to be any less creative.

Yes, I have seen some jacklegging in commercial but not nearly as much as resi. I used to work commercial with former employers that did nearly all commercial.

 

[readydave8]

Yes, I have seen some jacklegging in commercial but not nearly as much as resi. I used to work commercial with former employers that did nearly all commercial.

Some of the worst I've seen was in nursing homes, one example was 2/prong when it was built, later changed to 3/prong receps with nothing connected to ground prong (like we often see it dwellings, but here there were hundreds of them).