Hello all,
I'm splitting a room in two separate rooms, and need to rewire the power to these rooms. Here is what I have now:
A fairly easy layout - two single way switches each controlling one of two hot wires of a 14/3 Romex that goes to another room, one wire for the light fixture, one for the fan in that same fixture.
Now that I split this room in two, I need separate lighting in those two rooms, and I want new outlets in one of those rooms. I want to use one of the switches above to control the light in one of the rooms (room 2), and I need another room (room 1) to have its own lights, a switch for those lights, and two new outlets. The 14/3 goes into that room already, so I'm thinking of doing this:
Summary of planned changes:
1. Use black hot of 14/3 as a permanent, unswitchable hot to supply Room 1.
2. Use red hot of 14/3 as a switchable hot, switched by one of the original switches in the original switch box, forwarding it from Room 1 to Room 2 for lights (those will be low power LED bulbs)
3. In Room 1, use a 2 gang box with:
- a dimmer switch for (dimmable) Room 1 LED lights, fed off the black hot of incoming 14/3
- power the outlets off the same black hot of incoming 14/3
- connect an outgoing 14/2 for Room 2 lights, off the (already switched) red hot of incoming 14/3
- connect all neutrals and, separately from neutrals, grounds, both with wire nuts
Question: what am I missing? My only thought is that I'm using the same neutral in the 14/3 for the returns of 3 separate sub-circuits - Room 1 outlets, Room 1 lights, and Room 2 lights. However all of the above equipment is going to be sitting on the same 15 amp breaker (see a single 14/2 Romex IN), so no neutral overload is expected. Am I violating any part of NEC by doing this?
Note: I'm going to be using LED lights in both rooms, no fluorescent or incandescent stuff. Room 1 is expected to use about 1.5-2 amps for lights, and room 2 about 0.5 amp for lights. However there will be computer equipment connected to those two new outlets in Room 1 (nothing crazy in terms of power consumption, regular laptops and monitors), estimated total consumption of less than 3-4 amps. Will "sharing" this neutral affect EMI or power stability in any way?
I might have an option of pulling a separate 14/2 from the "original" switch box into the Room 2, but if I can avoid it, I'd rather not (messy rework).
P.S. All gang boxes are PVC and they are (slightly over) sized for the enclosed current-carrying wires / devices. I will also ground all the switches as required (didn't display this on the diagram to reduce clutter).
Thank you in advance for your help.
I'm splitting a room in two separate rooms, and need to rewire the power to these rooms. Here is what I have now:
A fairly easy layout - two single way switches each controlling one of two hot wires of a 14/3 Romex that goes to another room, one wire for the light fixture, one for the fan in that same fixture.
Now that I split this room in two, I need separate lighting in those two rooms, and I want new outlets in one of those rooms. I want to use one of the switches above to control the light in one of the rooms (room 2), and I need another room (room 1) to have its own lights, a switch for those lights, and two new outlets. The 14/3 goes into that room already, so I'm thinking of doing this:
Summary of planned changes:
1. Use black hot of 14/3 as a permanent, unswitchable hot to supply Room 1.
2. Use red hot of 14/3 as a switchable hot, switched by one of the original switches in the original switch box, forwarding it from Room 1 to Room 2 for lights (those will be low power LED bulbs)
3. In Room 1, use a 2 gang box with:
- a dimmer switch for (dimmable) Room 1 LED lights, fed off the black hot of incoming 14/3
- power the outlets off the same black hot of incoming 14/3
- connect an outgoing 14/2 for Room 2 lights, off the (already switched) red hot of incoming 14/3
- connect all neutrals and, separately from neutrals, grounds, both with wire nuts
Question: what am I missing? My only thought is that I'm using the same neutral in the 14/3 for the returns of 3 separate sub-circuits - Room 1 outlets, Room 1 lights, and Room 2 lights. However all of the above equipment is going to be sitting on the same 15 amp breaker (see a single 14/2 Romex IN), so no neutral overload is expected. Am I violating any part of NEC by doing this?
Note: I'm going to be using LED lights in both rooms, no fluorescent or incandescent stuff. Room 1 is expected to use about 1.5-2 amps for lights, and room 2 about 0.5 amp for lights. However there will be computer equipment connected to those two new outlets in Room 1 (nothing crazy in terms of power consumption, regular laptops and monitors), estimated total consumption of less than 3-4 amps. Will "sharing" this neutral affect EMI or power stability in any way?
I might have an option of pulling a separate 14/2 from the "original" switch box into the Room 2, but if I can avoid it, I'd rather not (messy rework).
P.S. All gang boxes are PVC and they are (slightly over) sized for the enclosed current-carrying wires / devices. I will also ground all the switches as required (didn't display this on the diagram to reduce clutter).
Thank you in advance for your help.
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