wafer lights

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GerryB

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woodbridge, ct. USA
Can wafer lights be used in new construction, ie: open ceilings, without a mounting bracket? So basically turning a new work job into old work and just throwing the j-box up in the ceiling. Second question about wafer lights are they IC rated?
 
The wafers are designed to be mounted directly the the sheetrock. IMO the box still needs to be mounted to the structure. The Halo ones I use are Type IC and wet location rated.
 
I agree with Infinity. I seriously doubt that an inspector would get up in an attic or remove one of your lights to see if the junction box is secured or the Romex is stapled within 12" of it, but that comes down to the integrity of the installer. If I were wiring houses today, I would use the wafer lights because of the speed of install, space that they take up on my shelves, and not have to order housings, trims and lamps. I've spent hours trying to lay out 10-12 cans in a kitchen just to have a few hit a truss and throw my whole layout off. IMO, these wafers are the way to go.
 
If I use them on new construction , I ussaly span the rafters with scrap 14-2 stapled in both sides then zip-ties the wire center were it needs to be.
 
Our local AHJ says to mount according to manufacturer instructions for new work. Manufacturer instructions say to mount per NEC.
Does NEC allow for a jb not to be mounted in new construction??
 
Pat75 said:
Our local AHJ says to mount according to manufacturer instructions for new work. Manufacturer instructions say to mount per NEC.
Does NEC allow for a jb not to be mounted in new construction??
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Junction boxes are required to be supported/mounted with a few exceptions for boxes with hubs and RMC. Since these boxes do not meet the exceptions IMO they are required to be mounted. I think that that NEC needs to do a better job of addressing these relatively new products.
 
I think these are the way to go. I used to bury the wire and cut the hole after sheetrock, but got sick of that whole mess of laying it out twice, getting showered in drywall dust, hoping the wire is there as planned......

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What are you going to do in 5 years when one goes out and they don't make that exact style????. I was all for them till I realized these are just a problem waiting to happen when the homeowner gets *#($ that they either don't match or have to change them all.
Old housing still OP


That's cheap for that mounting bracket my supply house trys and sells them for $8

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infinity said:
Junction boxes are required to be supported/mounted with a few exceptions for boxes with hubs and RMC. Since these boxes do not meet the exceptions IMO they are required to be mounted. I think that that NEC needs to do a better job of addressing these relatively new products.
Click to expand...
Some I have seen that don't have a recommended mounting bracket do not say to mount box in old work only new work. They are listed and this is in the instructions. They use a threaded connector to the junction box so I think that is how they meet the integral junction box like on normal remodel can lights. There is also a style that has the actual box attached to the back of the wafer and is impossible to mount to anything.
 
AC\DC said:
What are you going to do in 5 years when one goes out and they don't make that exact style????. I was all for them till I realized these are just a problem waiting to happen when the homeowner gets *#($ that they either don't match or have to change them all.
Old housing still OP
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I always buy a few extra and leave them with the homeowner for future replacement.

Beyond that, you can rob one out of a closet, or two out of a room by themselves, to move into a larger room to match, then only replace one or two until quite a few go bad
 
AC\DC said:
What are you going to do in 5 years when one goes out and they don't make that exact style????.
Click to expand...
I used them in my own garage last year. I thought of that and intentionally bought a few extra. Easy since I had to round the number I bought to next highest whole box. I loved them when I mis-calculated and ended up hitting a ceiling joist; with these things it didn't matter.
 
What i ended up doing is LOOSELY screwing to a rafter within reach of where the hole will be cut. Let you know how it goes.
 
Pat75 said:
What i ended up doing is LOOSELY screwing to a rafter within reach of where the hole will be cut. Let you know how it goes.
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That's what I do. With 6" holes it's easy, 4" is more difficult. Here's a 4".
Wafer Box Mount.jpg
 
letgomywago said:
The instructions for those type don't allow for you to screw the box to a joist and the limited hole size would make that an impossible requirement since the junction box would be inaccessible if screwed to a joist at rough.
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I just got informed by an inspector on the rough inspection that he is going to enforce that impossible requirement. One of the things my builders like about the wafers is straddling the joists and headers. We have to run EMT here, no romex (Chicago area) but we can use 6' Greenfield whips. We already had one town outlaw FMC for recessed lights, so we went back to cans there. May have to do that in this town as well.
 
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