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Lights in a drop ceiling

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  TarheelTerp 
#1 ·
I have a drop ceiling in most of the basement of my house and the lights (3' tube fluorescent) in the ceiling turn on via the switch at the top of the stairs. The lights in the laundry room are plugged into an outlet in the ceiling. There's no drop ceiling in that room. I've never thought about it until now but I've always just kind of assumed that the rest of the lights were wired straight to the switch. I've just discovered that there's another electrical outlet above the drop ceiling into which one of the lights is plugged. So my question: Is having outlets above a drop ceiling a common thing? If so, why? Why not just wire them straight to the switch?
 
#4 ·
A receptacle above a drop-ceiling common? Sometimes. Allowed? Yes. The kicker is though receptacles are allowed to be installed above a drop-ceiling, cord connected equipment is not allowed. Equipment installed above a drop-ceiling has to be hard-wired. Weird, huh?

Receptacles above a drop-ceiling are allowed for temporary use, a drill for example, but not for permanent equipment.
 
#5 ·
Why not just wire them straight to the switch?
When the former owner bought his drop ceiling project stuff he bought light fixtures too and set them aside. After a while he opened the boxes and discovered that they came with a cordset on them.

Then he went about finding a way to solve this new problem of how to plug them in somewhere. He probably tried one of those thread in adapters first... then he struck on the idea of removing the ceramic keyless.

When he went to the store and found cover plates for those boxes that already had receptacles mounted... he smiled.

hth
 
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