# There MUST be a way



## aptpupil (Jun 12, 2010)

if 480's advice doesn't work...what's on the other side of the wall? any chance you could take the box out on the dining room side and put it in a retrofit box on the other side? perhaps that would be preferable?


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

aptpupil said:


> if 480's advice doesn't work...what's on the other side of the wall? any chance you could take the box out on the dining room side and put it in a retrofit box on the other side? perhaps that would be preferable?



And if that won't work.... hang a freaking decorated / memorial dinner plate on the wall! :laughing:


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## wyoming 1 (May 7, 2008)

480sparky said:


> If there's a single NM (Romex) in the box, then it's a switch loop. Find the other end of the wire (99.99999999% chance it will be in the light fixture the switch used to control), and bypass the NM.
> 
> Abandon the switch box & cover it up. No need for wire nuts, tape, or anything else.
> 
> Sleep well.


As soon as I read the op that was my first thought. 480's the bomb


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## tccoggs (Dec 17, 2008)

aptpupil said:


> think anti was getting at is that house electricity has a much higher available level of current and is surrounded by combustable material where people sleep so therefore it's more dangerous.


5000lbs of steel going 60 mph with 20 gallons of gas on board isn't exactly a safe place for a fire either. I think we fail to put things in perspective sometimes. I'm not saying I condone the use of these splices, but sometimes you look around a bit and see the exact same engineering used in many other applications that we just accept, however when it comes to intoducing that same concept into something else, we immediatley throw up our noses at it. The truth of the matter is, once covered up, the connector is probably in a 10x safer place than many other potential risk items that we deal with everyday in a house. Extension cords probably pose just as big of a risk in certain situations.

I just find it funny that we managed to engineer a vehicle we can launch into space, complete with toilets that work in zero gravity, yet nobody thinks its possible to engineer a solution to splice a wire inside a wall that won't burn a house down.

A few weeks ago, I had a dewalt XRP battery short out and melt while charging causing the battery literally go up in flames. Thankfully I was right there an was able to unplug the charger and toss the battery into the yard. I can't even say how many times I have left batteries charging unattended, just happed to be lucky that day I guess. Point is, there are probably things we use everyday that have a much higher chance of causing a fire than an NM in wall splice kit.


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

480sparky said:


> If there's a single NM (Romex) in the box, then it's a switch loop. Find the other end of the wire (99.99999999% chance it will be in the light fixture the switch used to control), and bypass the NM.
> 
> Abandon the switch box & cover it up. No need for wire nuts, tape, or anything else.
> 
> Sleep well.


X2, chances are the switch box is just inside the door where the light hangs and is probably in the same bay.


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## tcleve4911 (Mar 26, 2006)

Thanks for all the replies.
Each time I got a suggestion, I investigated that method.
Each time,I realized I was chasing someones else's Jerry rigging.

This switch loop was used to operate an outside post lantern. 
It was replaced with an exterior motion detector and a blank cover plate stuck on the Dining Room wall...ugly...

A Gray underground wire came into the post, a White romex came out and the switch loop I was dealing with inside was Black.:blink:

I came back to you a few times trying to push the idea of burying this switch loop by putting a mechanical splice on it. 
You kept saying no.

I stepped away from it for a day, went back and found the wire in the basement and pulled it out of the bay. I mounted a J box in the basement ceiling and labeled it. 

Done.
Done right
Done safe
I can sleep at night.

Thank you Sparkies........


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