Thread: NEC sucks
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E Z Peaces E Z Peaces is offline
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Default NEC sucks

Roger Shoaf wrote:
"Tony" wrote in message
...
OK, that's it! I'm running eye hooks and strings to all of the kitchen,
bedroom and living room entrances! Pull one string for on and one for
off. Now how to mark the strings... I'll go with the 1 and 0 which is
becoming popular. Off has a round loop on the string and on has a
straight... something, or nothing.


Nope, only need one string to each door. The pill chain ratchets on and
off.


My house was wired in the 1920s. Except at the front door, there's no
sign that any switch ever had knob & tube wiring, so most switches must
have been added later.

Some of the switched lights were made with chain switches. Finding
places to install switch boxes must have been a problem. Two rooms are
switched from outside. The switch in one room is not near any of the
three doors. There are no three-way switches.

One bedroom still has no wall switch, and I've grown to appreciate it.
If you enter a room from a door with no switch, taking two steps and
feeling for a string can be easier and safer than crossing the room to
find the wall switch. It's a little inelegant because if you touch a
string hanging in the dark, you may have to wait for it to swing back to
your hand so you can pull it.

Inside the back door and at the back entry to the kitchen, I added
lights where I would have had to use surface-mount boxes for wall
switches. In each case, I used a couple of eye screws to run a string
down the wall at a good location. A tied string is easier than a switch
to find in the dark, you can work it with your hands full, and you don't
get the wall dirty. With another length of string and two more eye
screws, I could operate the light from more than one place in the room.
This versatility could be useful in a room such as a bedroom, where
rearranging furniture could make a new switch location desirable.

Chain-pull switches can be practical for ceiling lights.