Wiring/distribution plans for new construction

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] OH.....and one more thing........how about FLOOR BOXES for the living room? Do you need any now; or in the distant future when Mrs Pat relocates the furniture? They make some nice boxes that have all the stuff: cable, phone, etc. etc. etc. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Nice to be reminded when it is only a few months after the floor slab was poured. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I had an outlet box located so it would be under the middle of the dining room table. Cordless phones pretty much alleviate phone outlet problems. I will have ample phone and other outlets around the periphery. Most furniture arrangements will be influenced by the window wall on the south side of the great room (view) and the location of the fireplace, entry, stairs, and various ingress and egress paths. There will be some latitude for furniture rearranging but not too much as no one would want the back of a recliner or couch near the fireplace or obstructing the entry. Variations will be reduced but not elliminated.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[MikeIA]

In the bathrooms, have a receptacle connected to a 15 minute timer next to the mirror. The curling iron can stay plugged in, and you won't ever have to turn around halfway to your destination, just to come back and check that it is off.

I made a little brass bracket for the side of the medicine cabinet that holds it until it is cool.

The same timer setup could be used for the clothes iron, if it is always used in the same place. (although most modern ones turn themselves off, anyway)

[Pat]

Mike, We don't do "curling iron" but the idea is a good one. I used a twist timer as the off-on switch for heat lamps aimed at the place you stood exiting the shower at my previous house. This ensured that you didn't leave then on and run up the electric bill.

I may put the bathroom, closets, and who knows what else on motion detectors in this new house. The type where your IR in motion energizes the circuit and keeps the circuit live until after it no longer "sees " you for a preset period. I have done this for friends in their walk-in closets and they were happy with it. Of course, someone standing still for 5 min deciding what to wear might suddenly be in the dark but if they wave of something the lights will come back on. I don't mind having a preset that might leave the lights on after I exit the closet nearly as much as I don't like coming home from a vacation or just an all day trip and finding lights on.

I can't help it. I was raised to turn it off if you aren't using it. Use it if you need it but don't waste. Later in life, my first civil service Government job was an engineering job as the energy conservation officer of a submarine base. A fair part of the job was all sorts of stuff related to efficient use of utilities, especially lighting. I even designed lighting for ball fields for the recreation areas.

Clothes iron? Yeah, I think I saw one of those in the Smithsonian! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Got a couple but they aren't auto off type. I read about a lady who worried so much about her iron being left on that her family used to pack the iron and take it on vacation so she would stop insisting they go back to check it.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[RobS]

<font color="blue"> In the bathrooms, have a receptacle connected to a 15 minute timer next to the mirror. The curling iron can stay plugged in, and you won't ever have to turn around halfway to your destination, just to come back and check that it is off.
</font color>

Hey, I like this idea!!! My wife is forever asking me to check the curling iron. I was thinking of making her a simple little plug rack that she could hook the unplugged plug on for a mental signal but the timed outlet would be much better. Can you get one to fit an exisiting single workbox? GFI?

TIA [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

There are both electronic and manual twist (clockwork, tick tick tick) timers available that will fit in an electrical box in place of a standard on-off switch. You could use a GFCI breaker for that circuit or wire it down stream of another GFCI outlet.

I'm not sure, but you might be able to find something that would allow both a timer and a single outlet in the space of a standard duplex outlet box.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]