Another new one on me

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I was doing a small kitchen remodel. Really just relocating a few switches. It was obvious that a homeowner or handyman had done the previous remodel. There were the expected buried boxes, buried free air splices etc but as I was trying to put this stuff right I came across something I'd not seen before.

There was a recessed can in the middle of the kitchen as well as a "flex track" controlled from the same switch. I took the lamp out of the can and there was a bulb extender that had a receptacle built in (the kind often seen in attics and crawl spaces). There was a small section (~ 1 1/2") of 2 wire extension cord plugged into the extender. It immediately was spliced inside the can to free conductors (it was actually NM that was stripped out) that ducked under the can and ran to the j box for the track. The ground from the NM was wrapped around the "prongs" of the can that accept the trims with the gull wing type springs. Of course the whole inside of the can was coated with texture compound and paint so the ground wire was resting on those.

The ingenuity level of these hacks never ceases to amaze. This is another situation where it would have been easier to do it right than to install this corruption.

If anyone is actually interested I will try to get the pic I took of it off my phone and post it.
 

Charlie Bob

Senior Member
Location
West Tennessee
The ingenuity level of these hacks never ceases to amaze. This is another situation where it would have been easier to do it right than to install this corruption..

You would think that if they are smart enough to figure out that set up they had, they'd be smart enough to have it done right.
I would love to see the pic.
 
Seems like it would be faster, easier and cheaper to do it right. How often can we say that happens?

My thoughts exactly. With the amount of thought and cobbling stuff together that went into this it seems silly that whoever did this didn't think to do it right and be done with it. On the other hand it wouldn't have made for a good picture if it had been done properly.
 

flashlight

Senior Member
Location
NY, NY
Occupation
Electrician, semi-retired
See this stuff all the time in NYC apartments where the super or his friends
have been doing "side jobs". Many in worse condition than this particular hack job, with scorched or melted insulation, etc. Do not consider it "ingenuity."
 

220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
Classic photo! :roll:

Seems like it would be faster, easier and cheaper to do it right. How often can we say that happens?

Seems like a weekly occurance. I say that all the time! They go thru way more effort to fudge it up.
 
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