Light switch behind door

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I've put switches for soffit holiday receptacles inside foyer closets on a couple of occasions, particularly when there are already too many switches in the foyer by the front door. Why put it where it will be accidentally flipped on a weekly basis, when a timer in the closet is better?

I've been known to slap a photoeye in a meter main from time to time as well; why slap another ugly bell box on a house when there's already an ugly box on the wall with a 1/2" KO in it? :)
 
iwire said:
I think 'workmanlike' should be removed from the NEC.

I think you are trying to find an NEC code to enforce your own ideas of where a switch should be.

I think the person paying the bill should get to decide, not the CMP or you or me.

:)
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...its idiotic to require switches and than omit a practical location
 
iwire said:
Lets see you write a comprehensible code section that would deal with every installation. :D
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:thumbsup:. In your average house, it isn't like there is much deviation anyway from what most people would find convienent- sw within a foot of the trim and 42-48" off the floor and in the same room as light to be switched. Why do we need a section telling us it "needs" to be within that range? And besides any argument about convienence or safety is a non issue- if a customer wants one of them located away from any area considered "normal" any convenience issues become their problem (not ours), and they can always call us back to change something- its their money and their home.
 
jusme123 said:
...its idiotic to require switches and than omit a practical location
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If I had to guess it's because the code is concerned with electrical system safety and not design.

The goal isn't to ensure a perfectly functional living environment, if it were then we would be concerned with not only switch location, but foot-candles measured at the floor and radiance of each fixture: What's the point of specifying lights if we allow them to be too dim?

I think we need to reasonably draw the line somewhere at how much we're going to dictate under the guise of "safety." A switch behind a door hardly presents a safety concern.
 
user 100 said:
:thumbsup:. In your average house, it isn't like there is much deviation anyway from what most people would find convienent- sw within a foot of the trim and 42-48" off the floor and in the same room as light to be switched. Why do we need a section telling us it "needs" to be within that range? And besides any argument about convienence or safety is a non issue- if a customer wants one of them located away from any area considered "normal" any convenience issues become their problem (not ours), and they can always call us back to change something- its their money and their home.
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...I guess you could say the same thing about the required outlets in houses, yet the code exist. What if the customer only wanted 1 outlet on each floor and no outlets in kitchen? IMO, the code should require practical locations for light switches, with exceptions.
 
jusme123 said:
...I guess you could say the same thing about the required outlets in houses
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The rec requirement addresses the very real safety issues that arise when there are too few receptacles present in a home- the fire hazard associated with running numerous loaded up and often undersized ext cords, a far cry from a light sw that would be inconveniently located. And I meant safety issues that could be associated with someone tripping on something in the dark while hunting the switch , not exactly something, imo, that the code needs to concern itself with.

We don't need the NEC going further off into left field trying to tackle a design issue.
 
jusme123 said:
...the NEC didn't have a problem with the receptacle requirement in dwellings
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They don't tell us specific locations for outlets, they give us an area of 12' or 4' wide depending on wall or counter.

They also don't require outlets on small sections of walls.


So again, let's see you write a code section for switches. :p
 
GoldDigger said:
That is a design issue rather than a Code issue (except that the Code seems to be getting deeper and deeper into design these days.)
The required switches for rooms with lighting outlets do not even have to be in the same room or near the room entry.
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If an electrician misses the direction of with a door is hinged on the plans he may rough in a light switch box on the wrong side. Dumb mistakes do hasppen unfortunately.
If a contractor orders a door for an opening that would allow a door to be either a right or left hand and orders the wrong door the switch could end up to be behind the door.
This is why it is important to use common sense and to ask questions when in doubt to CYA
 
templdl said:
If an electrician misses the direction of with a door is hinged on the plans he may rough in a light switch box on the wrong side. Dumb mistakes do hasppen unfortunately.
If a contractor orders a door for an opening that would allow a door to be either a right or left hand and orders the wrong door the switch could end up to be behind the door.
This is why it is important to use common sense and to ask questions when in doubt to CYA
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When we were building our house (semi custom tract) we exercised the option to make the room off the foyer open into the foyer for an office rather than off the hall for a bedroom. Unfortunately, not everyone on the construction crew got the word, and the electrician placed the light switch next to where the door to the hall would have been had the room been a bedroom, i.e., on the opposite side of the room from the door. We didn't catch it until after the drywall was up.
 
In dwellings we have requirements for "wall switches" for many locations, but no specific location for said wall switches. We do have requirement for a switch at each level in situations with stairways, or near entrances to attics or crawlspaces, but most other switches - you could have the required wall switch for a third floor bedroom located (on the wall) in the basement den if you wanted and it is still NEC compliant.
 
ggunn said:
When we were building our house (semi custom tract) we exercised the option to make the room off the foyer open into the foyer for an office rather than off the hall for a bedroom. Unfortunately, not everyone on the construction crew got the word, and the electrician placed the light switch next to where the door to the hall would have been had the room been a bedroom, i.e., on the opposite side of the room from the door. We didn't catch it until after the drywall was up.
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Sometimes no matter how thorough one can be there in a gotcha and why the heck didn't I catch that.
 
George Stolz said:
Kentucky threeway - tie a length of string to the pull chain and tie the other end near the entry.

:)
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Did that. The light fixture and pull chain in my attic are pretty far from where the disappearing stairway comes up, so I tied a string onto the chain and ran it through some screw eyes so it hangs down at the entry point, and I tied a heavy washer to it so I can just swing my hand around and find it in the dark.
 
kwired said:
You need to run the string to more then one intended point of operation for it to be a "three way";)
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There are a number of points of operation. Starting with your thumb tips actually touching the fixture as you pull the chain and work your way point by point along the string until you get to the end of it. ;)
 
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