"Tom Horne, Electrician" wrote in message
ink.net...
Toller wrote:
My wife wants to rearrange our furniture (ie. buy a new, much larger,
couch) and I would like to put in a reading lamp where she proposes to
put my chair. There is no outlet, no possibility of running an extension
cord, and no possibility of installing a new outlet.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~toller/wall.jpg

If we had thought of it last year when new carpet was installed perhaps
one could have gone in the floor, but I am not messing with the carpet.

The fireplace has fans that pass room air over the fire box and back into
the room. We don't use it because the heat doesn't justify the noise.
But, it has 120v going to it.

Can replace the fan with an electrical box/outlet and plug the reading
light into that?
http://www.frontiernet.net/~toller/vent.jpg

I am sure it violates some code or other, but it seems about as safe as
anything; it is pretty darn fireproof in there.

Much depends on how the present wiring is arranged. Does the power go to
the fans and just the ungrounded conductor go to the switch, or does the
power go to the switch first and then continue on to the fans?

On the wooden column box to the right of the fire place you can mount a
wiremold box for your new receptacle. You can then bring power to it by
whichever path suits you. You can drill into the Heatilator airway to tap
the fan power, through the floor to accommodate a feed from below, or run
wiremold up to the ceiling to except a feed run from above.
--
I want to actually put the outlet IN the heatilator, and run the lamp cord
through the vent.
The power goes to the switch, the fan I want to use, and then to the other
fan; hot, neutral and ground.
So it would be a simple matter to just put an outlet in place of the fan.

Putting a box on the doorway would be hideous.