I read this and then said that’s bs. Lol I’m not an electrician but wired my house. By the time I got to the bottom..... it clicked. I installed a 3 way at the top and bottom of my stairs because stair lighting is code. But my stairs are sufficiently lit so the switches do nothing lol well they control a plug that’s underneath the stairs but only I know.
I have a switch in my kitchen that operates nothing
- Thread starter dthor68
- Start date
I read this and then said that’s bs. Lol I’m not an electrician but wired my house. By the time I got to the bottom..... it clicked. I installed a 3 way at the top and bottom of my stairs because stair lighting is code. But my stairs are sufficiently lit so the switches do nothing lol well they control a plug that’s underneath the stairs but only I know.
nsula_country
Well-known member
I have a 3 way by the backdoor that is wired to a pigtail under the house. One day will build a carport. Built and wired house 8 years ago...
CT
CT
Jim greengo
Well-known member
ripperd
Well-known member
We have a switch by our front entry door that is for some outlets we had put into the soffits so you can control christmas lights from there. 95% chance the next owner thinks this is a phantom switch!
Jazz1
Well-known member
I have two of those switches in my garage I installed incase i ever bother to install garage door opener and one for another thing. Wiring is installed,,I would have to remember where I ran the wire to???
nh_yota
Well-known member
Three of the outdoor outlets on my parents' addition have never worked since it was built in 2010. Best we figure is that the electrician forgot to connect them somewhere inside the walls.
My two favorite are my current home that we kept testing during the day. Come to find out it was for the outdoor garage lights that we could not see. The second was my old house that we had zero idea what it did until one day. One switch turned the pool lights on but the other set the lights to rotate color. So if you flicked the one switch it did nothing until the lights were on.
SGKent
Banned
I needed to locate wires yesterday in order to put in some shelving and needed to know exactly where the wiring was. The Greenlee did not read thru the wall with the appliance on or off - either the 120V outlet, or the 240V dryer. It worked fine next to the outlet itself. Last week I needed to chase a Cat5e wire. The tone generator did not work well on cat 5e tracing it. There was barely enough signal present to detect where which cable it was. Batteries were new on the units.
That said - many homes from the 1950's and 60's that we lived in had two switches next to the sink. I know of TWO configurations - one is the combo where one went to the disposer and the other the light over the sink, which was most common. Cabinet on either side of window with a (usually square chrome bezel) light directly over the sink. The other is the standard dual outlet receptacle under the sink was split, and each switch controlled one of the individual outlets in the receptacle.
That said - many homes from the 1950's and 60's that we lived in had two switches next to the sink. I know of TWO configurations - one is the combo where one went to the disposer and the other the light over the sink, which was most common. Cabinet on either side of window with a (usually square chrome bezel) light directly over the sink. The other is the standard dual outlet receptacle under the sink was split, and each switch controlled one of the individual outlets in the receptacle.
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I have a switch that goes to nothing. Actually, it goes to the box under the drywall in the middle of my kitchen ceiling. When I built the house, wife said "I may want a light fixture up there in the future, but I don't know." So I put in a 4 gang switch box instead of a 3, installed a switch and ran the romex up to the box in the ceiling. wire nutted it off and left it for future use. Over two years now, still no light.
dylanmitchell
Well-known member
Ghost switches would be would make a great secret storage space. Did you check for hidden cash?
Swap in a fire-rated outlet box and you have a small hidden storage compartment. Add a few uncapped wires coming in from the wall (not connected and definitely not live) and a high voltage danger of serious injury or death sticker to it.
I'd put one in myself if I didn't think I'd forget about it and never remember where to find what I had in it.
Swap in a fire-rated outlet box and you have a small hidden storage compartment. Add a few uncapped wires coming in from the wall (not connected and definitely not live) and a high voltage danger of serious injury or death sticker to it.
I'd put one in myself if I didn't think I'd forget about it and never remember where to find what I had in it.
Does this wire go "Up" out of the box? is there attic space above? if so, you could go up in the attic and possibly chase the wire out, unless if it goes up, out of the box and stays in the wall?
Knock a small hole in the wall above the cabinet where it will not be seen, use a camera and see if you can tell where it goes. It could be the switch for the Xmas lights Clark!!
Knock a small hole in the wall above the cabinet where it will not be seen, use a camera and see if you can tell where it goes. It could be the switch for the Xmas lights Clark!!