I made a huge leap of faith.

I assumed that if someone techy posts on a techy board about an outlet near a sink that other techy types would get what i was posting about.

Like if i posted a photo of a speaker with the negative marked conductor connected to the positive marked connector on the speaker. I feel like i can just say "looks like someone wired this wrong" without having to explain that YES i know that someone could have reversed it on both ends and YES i already checked to make sure.

Title should have maybe said "half safe" instead of "kind of safe"?




My title about safety made you think about aesthetics?

Everything I saw and everything you described looked either totally okay. Or it was so wrong to have an outlet so near a sink that you wouldn't be asking about it.

But you didn't say anything at all parallel to "looks like someone wired this wrong." You did not state anything that means "wrong" and identifies the category.


Probably. Truth is, the first thing I thought of, especially when you said it was in a hotel room, was the kind of safe that's a locked container for valuables. And that you were referring to some "kind of safe," like keyed versus combination....


It was not obvious that the title was about safety. I was wondering if this was a "kind of safe" that you found in a hotel -- an inwall safe masquerading as an outlet.

Once the thought was about a safe in the wall, and you hadn't actually asked if this was a safe way to do things, all bets were off as to what the hell you were talking about. The mind reeled. And those were some of the things it reeled in.

Lemme go all the way and mention Arrid deodorant:

So, yeah, the lack of pinning down the subject did let different thoughts arise.

Plus some people have issues with reading and comprehension.

I read what was there. I comprehended that it did not adequately or unambiguously describe the subject of the thread.

It doesn't matter what anyone writes. You always come to the wrong conclusion. Do you have a GPS collar when you go into the corn maze?

Well.....  This escalated quickly.

I'M OUT!

Don't need it. The 1919 White Sox are there to help.

Ernie, have you never seen a hair drier at a hotel that is hardwired? This gang box could’ve had a hardwired hair drier and the gfi next to it. And then they decided to remove the hair drier and install a regular outlet.

But it does also begs the question... was the hair drier protected by the already there gfi? Or if it wasn’t, did it have its own gfi? In which case, the original electrician installed it properly as it had its own gfi.

KOT

I haven't stayed in that many hotels and I never use a hairdryer, so I pay zero attention to them. I'll bet you're right -- it has to do with a hairdryer that's no longer there.

EDIT: Ah, hell, I looked at it again. There's not enough height for a hairdryer to be anywhere near the height of the outlet, and there's no indication in the wall that any kind of hook or hanger used to be there. I'm stumped again.

Apparently, you can see through plastic on a web linked photo. It's possible that they replaced the j-box after the initial construction. The colors don't match, nor are they the same type of device.

While we're at it, which is "the first outlet"? How could we know, other than by assuming the GFCI was installed to meet code?

How often have you seen a 4" box with a single gang cover in a hotel/motel? Why would they spend the extra money for a larger box?

I saw a TV show scene with the hair dryer attached to the side of the shower door that would have water spraying on it.

In God Friended Me, our hero is doing a live podcast while wagging his head back and forth, which would make his voice change sound character while making its level go up and down. After signing off, he hung his headphones up on the microphone, GUARANTEED to create feedback at some slightly sloppy moment.

Then again, on Empire (I think it was), they gently put the headphones down on the desk. The headphones were never closer than two feet from the mic except when on the head.

EDIT: The product I looked up and show below is made by Eaton. Since then I've found that Thomas & Betts calls all of the items in question "mud rings." That's a MUCH better term than "box cover" because it cannot in any way be confused with "cover plate." I'm calling them mud rings from now on.



I said box cover. I mean box cover. I think you mean cover plate. At the electrical supplier, the term "single gang cover" will get you the question "do you mean box cover or cover plate?"

There's no way to see if the box behind a single gang COVER PLATE is a single gang box or a 4" box (or 4-11/16" box*) with a single gang BOX COVER. With a single gang cover plate on top of it.

Why would they spend the extra money on the larger box? I don't know, but you see that all the time in residences and businesses... but only until the drywall goes up.

You can't see a 4" box with a single gang box cover on any finished wall. To know if that's what you're looking at you have to remove the single gang cover plate and the mounted device, then look inside the box. You'll then see that it's either a single gang box or a 4" box with a single gang box cover.

This is a TP-578, a Crouse Hinds (Eaton) Steel 4-11/16 Square Box Cover.* It comes in more than one way. The catalog listing says it's for 1 device. I've been sloppy and have been calling these "single gang" instead of "for one device" for years, but all the guys at the electrical house know exactly what I mean when I say that:


One thing that's for sure is that when I ask for a single gang box cover they know I mean a metal piece that goes on some size of electrical box and that has an opening for one single device. They know I do not mean a cover plate.

Now that it should be clear that I'm talking about, what, exactly, was your question?

For grins, here's the box cover that's probably used in that hotel. It's the TP586, a Crouse Hinds (Eaton) Steel 4-11/16 Square Box Cover.*





*The company whose site had this has thirteen pages of product in this category. I chose part numbers for a 4-11/16" box instead of for a 4" box because the front opening is mainly what I'm talking about here.

Reasonable assumption. I think that the Decora outlet was installed first (look at the paint), but the whole affair could have been the result of cobbling stuff together from a junk box. However, that is an odd sort of plate to have lying around.

] At the electrical supplier, the term "single gang cover" will get you the question "do you mean box cover or cover plate?"

Maybe at the supply house YOU go to. Around here you WILL get a blank medal box COVER, since that's what you asked for.

If you want a single gang switch plate, or blank plate, you need to ask for exactly that.

As in: "I need a Decora Single Gang Midway Light Switch Plate in Light Almond.".


It really does pay to be specific.