Well so much depends on the age of the wiring and the codes in effect at the time it was installed always assuming that codes were honoured and then there is the possibility that modifications have been made since the original installation.
Most probably 16 or 14 gauge wire would be used and the light would be just one branch from other circuits run in the area. 16 gauge wire will carry 15 amps at 110 VAC though these days considered on the margin but that is about all most household circuits would be expected to carry. Sometimes a circuit carries only lighting and because each lamp is expected to be within certain ranges and it is not likely that all will be on at the same time except in a house full of teenagers, there may be a lot of lights on that dedicated circuit so, the added load of something bigger, no one expects a fridge over the bathroom sink, exceeds the safe wiring capacity. Certainly one could run a refrigerator but there are other considerations. I am assuming that Jennifer is referring to one of those threaded inserts you screw into a light socket which has a female receptacle, many have two as well as another threaded socket for a bulb. This socket may even have a chain pull switch for the light. Although the electrical box will be grounded in a modern wiring installation there are only two contacts in the threaded bulb socket, the live and the so called neutral. There is no connection to ground. Thus, when a plug is included that plug only has a hot and neutral side. Not only that but there is no certainty as to which side is hot and which neutral. Finally, the light socket is made to usually use about a hundred and fifty watts maximum. They should handle heat fairly well given the heat a large bulb can be expected to generate but the contacts, that is the threaded sleeve and the bottom terminal point may well not stand up to large current draws particularly for extended periods of time. These days accumulated computer equipment would not likely draw as much as 500 Watts but it is something to be considered. The mechanical strain of hanging cables will impact on that electromechanical connection as well. Altogether, the arrangement combines pretty well everything unsavory about wiring octopi. So, the answer is a definite maybe. The wiring is probably adequate but the electromechanical coupling is suspect. Ungrounded computer equipment except of course notebook computers is very vulnerable but my concern would be more the fire risk. If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie ----- Original Message ----- From: Kevin Doucet To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 11:00 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] electrical outlet question I remember a verry long time ago, a friend ran a refridgerator from a light socket. Was that a bad moove? I don't know. The fridge was at the end of a hall way with no electrical outlet. It worked. I da'know' At 06:36 AM 1/22/2010, you wrote: > > >I agree with Scott, Ron, Dale, and Bob. I don't like the idea of using >the light socket as an outlet for many reasons, grounding being a big one, >accidentally ripping the fixture out of the ceiling being another. Maybe >someone with more knowledge than I can weigh in with some real >information, but I didn't think that a light socket was designed to pull a >lot of current through it. A computer, speakers, and monitor shouldn't be >drawing 15 amps or anything, but still. > >If the outlet in the living room is on the outside of the closet wall, it >would be easy enough to put an outlet in the closet, or turn the existing >one around. > >I realize you may not want to do that work yourself, and electricians >don't come cheap. So, I'm not sure what the best solution is for you. > >Sorry, just wanted to reinforce what others have said so far. > >-- >Blue skies. >Dan Rossi >Carnegie Mellon University. >E-Mail:<mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu>[email protected] >Tel:(412) 268-9081 > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
