Metallic Old Work Box

[sundowner]

Dumb question guys,

Why can I find two gang non-metallic old work boxes, but cant seem to find two gang metallic old work boxes. Am I stuck with the Madison Hold-its if I want to use a 4 sq. box in a finished wall ???

Any thoughts

Steve

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Is it that your supplier does not carry them, or that you cannot find them in a manufacturer's product manual? Take a look at the Raco online catalog and you should be able to locate them.

 

[e57]

cant seem to find two gang metallic old work boxes

They dont make any that I know of... The metal ones are gangable - remove one side from two of them put the boxes together and voila! - 2 gang! You can gang then up a few times and bingo - 3-6 gang.... They do all have to be the same make and model box, or they wont fit right... And some can have clamps to hold it in too, so no need for Battle-ships. (aka -Madisons)

 

[e57]

On second thought this is a good fools errand.....

 

[LarryFine]

. . . voila! . . .

Thank you for not saying "walla!" :roll:

 

[infinity]

Being gangable is one of the biggest advantages of having a bunch of metal old work boxes. You can put together a 2,3,4....X gang box in minutes. If using only PVC boxes you'll need to have a selection of different types.

 

[roger]

Here are a couple of versions.

Roger

 

[Davis9]

I have a new style Old work ring that has wings and attaches to the outside(front) of a 4"sq box. It allows 2 devices to be attached to the ring directly. I belive RACO makes it.

Tom

 

[roger]

Here is a link to the ring Tom mentions.

http://www.hubbell-raco.com/feat_item.asp?feature=25

Roger

 

[Davis9]

Thanks Roger, someday I'll be able to figure out that link thing. Then again I can't click on the links for some reason here.

Tom

 

[infinity]

I couldn't get that link to work either.

 

[peteo]

A week or two ago I sent a question about old work metallic boxes to Raco, here's the reply. The Raco site has a great little drill-down lookup, but I found just so many products that it was confusing as all sin. Perhaps this will be informative - without pictures I found it a little hard to follow. The local suppliers generally keep both products Roger posted pictures of in stock.

We do have a new product (Cat. no. 206RAC) that will clamp a four inch square box to the plasterboard itself. We call it our RETRO-RING. It is ETL listed. If your existing boxes are attached to a stud, there may be a fit problem with the retro-ring. It has two behind the plaster clamps that rotate out to grip the backside of the plaster wall. You would have to rotate the box 90 degrees so they would be at the top and bottom of the opening instead of each side. Try one first. An information brochure is attached. You have to purchase the four inch square box separate from the retro-ring. If you use the quadplex receptacle, you will want to use our 205RAC retro-ring.


A second option would be to gang two RACO Cat. No. 600 device boxes together to form a two gang old work box. The use the RACO Cat. No. 977 Grip-Lok old work supports to hold the assembly in the wall.

A third option is to NOT cut out the existing boxes. Use a RACO Cat. No. 187 box extension. It will attach to your existing box. It will be surface mounted instead of flush mounted. If you use the quadplex it would mount directly to the 187. If you use two duplex receptacles, you will need to finish it with a RACO 979 exposed work cover.

A fourth option depends on the depth of your wall cavity. A RACO 696 box is 3-1/2 inches deep. It may be possible to mount this box thru the bottom of the box into the opposite side wall. The 696 has provisions for mounting two devices. Again, you would have to try one to see if it would work in your situation. You may even be able to glue the back of the box to the back wall. A quad plex would then be near flush to a bit higher than the wall surface. You could also add a mud to the 696 (it has 8-32 tapped holes to accept the mud ring) for a flush finish when using duplex receptacles. ​

 

[infinity]

I think that this is it:

 

[Davis9]

That's the one, but I couldn't figure out how to post a picture.

Tom

 

[roger]

Yeah, the link thing is pretty inconvenient isn't it, (the calender doesn't work any more either)

Just copy and paste the line below into your address window.


hubbell-raco.com/feat_item.asp?feature=25

(You may need to precede it with www. )


Roger

 

[al hildenbrand]

Interesting ring. Thanks for the information and links. I've never seen anything similar to it that works with four squares.

I note in the Raco information linked to above:

Small foot print is easily covered by wall plate (any wall plate greater than 4-13/32" W x 4-3/4" H).

This basically is saying use jumbo cover plates.

Since the Retro Ring mounts directly to the four square, no cubic inches are gained from the ring.

A 2-1/8" deep four square has 30 cubes.

A two gang box, mounted with Madison clips, made from two 2" x 3" x 3?" gangable metal switch boxes, has 36 cubes.

 

[stickboy1375]

Does it have to be metal? If not then I use these....

 

[sundowner]

Thanks guys

I don't know why I did'nt think of the single gang, gangable boxes to begin with... the wire nut dust must be getting to thick around here. ;-)

Steve