You seem set on doing what you propose despite the risks pointed out. Go
for it, it's your house and your family. You might check the batteries in
your smoke detectors while you are at it - unless you already cannibalized
them for something else as well.


"Toller" wrote in message
...

"Tom Horne, Electrician" wrote in message
news
Toller wrote:
"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.


Toller
Running a flexible cord through the vent is illegal and dangerous. Lamp
cord must be visible along it's entire length so as to be available for
inspection to spot decay as soon as it happens. The trade off for
flexibility in lamp cords is a much more limited service life. All
flexible cords will harden over time. If that cord faults to the
Heatilator grill the entire grill could become live without tripping the
circuits Over Current Protective Device. If you have no pets or tiny
people on your floors then you and your spouse are the only ones at risk.

Wouldn't a GFCI outlet address that problem?
And just to be redundant, if I used a metal electrical box, the grill
would be grounded through the box.

I appreciate your pointing out these problems.