Electrical Wiring Question

60 acre hillside · Sep 29, 2013

I am repairing an old dwelling house with three rooms and one bath. The wiring looks good and neatly done with proper grounding. UNTIL! There was one of the little cheap steel bathroom medicine cabinets with a light and mirror. From an octagon box there were two white neutral wires One Black and a bare ground. The fixture is no more than three feet from the switch so there was no need for a switch leg, Where is the other black wire? Until I found this it looked like a competent (much better then me) electrician had done the original wiring about 40 years ago.

jogl · Sep 29, 2013

Could one of the white wires have originally been red and the colour has faded away?

ss55 · Sep 29, 2013

It could be that someone else added the medicine cabinet. You might as well fix it while you are working on it.

60 acre hillside · Sep 29, 2013

It is absolutely two white wires and I suppose I will have to find what the other white ones does. I also think the cabinet was added later because no responsible person would have bought the thing because it was made with a receptacle in the top of the cabinet wired with something like about an 18 ga wire. Perhaps for an electric razor but what if someone plugged in a blow drier. I will buy a light and mirror and throw the cabinet away. Still 2 white wires puzzle me/

dpendzic · Sep 29, 2013

if it was used for a hot leg perhaps the black tagging fell off or disintegrated

John T · Sep 29, 2013

Okay NOT being there to see or take readings, all I can do is venture a "guess" so no warranty or nobody have a calf if this guess is incorrect:

I have seen electrical devices where say one circuit (maybe a light or a receptacle) IS SWITCHED where another circuit is NOT SWITCHED (always HOT like perhaps a receptacle)

And on such a device I have seen TWO NEUTRAL WIRES one for the SWITCHED load, another for the UNSWITCHED load.

Thats all I"m saying not being there so take it for whats its worth which is NOTHING

John T

El Toro · Sep 29, 2013

I would have an electrician that you can trust to take a look at it. Hal

paul · Sep 29, 2013

What I was thinking, the outlet was powered all the time, the light was switched.... Somehow.

Paul

waltdavies · Sep 29, 2013

Rip it out and start over you never know what is in the wales until you can see them. Never trust what someone else did.
Walt

John T · Sep 29, 2013

It MUST be right then if we were BOTH thinking it lol

John T

john in la · Sep 29, 2013

I agree with your logic also John T.

Maybe one day we can hash out if the neutral is the proper side to install a switch.....
And or....
If the power from the fuse should go to the switch box first or the light fixture in the ceiling first.

John T · Sep 29, 2013

NEVER switch the Neutral ALWAYS the HOT....

I wire the switch FIRST to turn the HOT on or off that way the wires up there at the light are deenergized and safe when the switch is off.

When I designed I NEVER put lighting branch circuits on the same branch circuit as convenience outlets.

John T

Texasmark1 · Sep 30, 2013

An example of switched and not would be a light vs a ceiling fan with a pull cord and 3 speeds. The light has a switch on the wall, the fan is powered always. That's the way I wired my bathrooms.

Mark

Electrical Wiring Question

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