Moving a receptacle in an unfinished room with exposed everything

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Flyover

Flyover

Trying not to screw things up worse
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Jan 6, 2017
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I've cleaned up my basement mechanical room and will make that my new office. There is a junction box on the ceiling. The source runs into it, and out of it runs one line to the pull-chain-operated light fixture, and another line to a 2-outlet receptacle mounted on a stud between the furnace and water heater. Aside from whatever's run to the appliances that is all the electric I've got in there. Also, everything is exposed: no drywall. (You see the appeal.)

Problem is, I need that receptacle on the other side of the room where my desk is. So here's my question:

Is there a reason besides aesthetics why I can't unscrew the receptacle from the stud, pry off the staples holding the line running between it and the junction box, reposition the receptacle across the room where I need it, and re-staple the line (as neatly as possible of course)?

Simply repositioning the receptacle without detaching/re-attaching at the junction box means the line would need to cross over or under either the line from the source or the line to the light. Not sure if that is a big no no for safety reasons or something. I would try to make sure the crossed lines were still separated vertically by at least a few inches.
 
Why not simply run a new #12/2+ romex, box and recep, from the "J" box.
 
@Snoony, three reasons:

1. I'm very comfortable attaching/detaching things from walls. I do not have any experience running new lines from electrical boxes.

2. I don't need an outlet between my furnace and water heater (nothing has ever been plugged into it since we moved there), but now I do need one by my desk.

3. I am trying not to have to buy anything new for this "project".

So back to my question: is it OK simply to pull the receptacle and line off the wall and relocate it without rewiring?
 
1. We can instruct you.
2. Some folks like the convenience of an unencumbered recep., as say for instance, a vacuum, or a hot water recirc. system.
3. Sure, turn the breaker off, and good luck.
 
Snoonyb said:
1. We can instruct you.
2. Some folks like the convenience of an unencumbered recep., as say for instance, a vacuum, or a hot water recirc. system.
3. Sure, turn the breaker off, and good luck.
Click to expand...
In my area prolly a fan or a dehumidifier to make a basement habitable.
 
He's in TX, so humidity may be the product of flood stage.
 
It's always nice to have a "service outlet" by the furnace.
But, I understand your position and your plan is fine.
 
I thought I remembered you saying that, but I was still only a couple of blocks off.
 
Relocated the outlet pretty much as soon as I got home today. Works great!

BTW, the "service" outlet is still only 4 feet away from the furnace, maybe 6' from the water heater. This is a mechanical room, not an indoor basketball court.
 
If you are keeping the open stud industrial look it makes for some easy shelving by placing cross pieces between studs.
 
Eddie_T said:
If you are keeping the open stud industrial look it makes for some easy shelving by placing cross pieces between studs.
Click to expand...
Yup. I'm not sure this particular room has studs in the right place for it -- one wall is mostly obstructed by the furnace and water heater, the other by my desk, and the third wall is masonry because it's the side of the foundation.

Why do people call this look "industrial"? There's nothing about it relevant to industry, it's more like "honest": as in, it's honestly what modern houses are made of and how they're structured. I think my dream house would have no drywall in it. If a wall had to look "nice" or contain insulation I'd use shiplap; ditto to create privacy. If I just needed to be able to hang stuff of non-16"x widths I'd add a strip of OSB going horizontally across. I hate drywall.
 
My nephew has an unmarried buddy that lives in a 70’ trailer home. He got tired of the crappy trailer wiring and mounted a new panel right to the wall and moved the feeder to it. He then ran all new circuits for everything from the panel by stapling the romex to the inside of the walls not in the walls. He mounted J-boxes for everything screwed right to the walls and was done. He says now when he needs to work on it it’s right there where he can see it.

I told him that’s great but if he ever finds a woman she won’t live there and he said and smiled with “I know.”
 
Flyover, I'm glad you were able to move the receptacle.-

Is there a problem with allowing insulated cables to touch? I imagine if there is a leak in the insulation-- like with the 220v line under the house that zapped my friend.

As always, you know I would love to see pics. LOL.
 
zannej said:
Flyover, I'm glad you were able to move the receptacle.-

Is there a problem with allowing insulated cables to touch? I imagine if there is a leak in the insulation-- like with the 220v line under the house that zapped my friend.

As always, you know I would love to see pics. LOL.
Click to expand...

Insulated cables touch all the time. Kind of hard to avoid it. The insulation is there to prevent conductors from touching. You can actually staple two pieces of Romex under one staple. When you get to the panel you have a limited amount of wall stud to secure the cables.
 
zannej said:
As always, you know I would love to see pics. LOL.
Click to expand...
I ended up not having to cross the lines, I just routed the Romex out and around...it sort of does an end run around the light fixture (it's coming out up near the top of this picture):
Photo on 9-24-21 at 13.35.jpg

Then down (it's the line on the right)...
Photo on 9-24-21 at 13.37.jpg

...to the receptacle:
Photo on 9-24-21 at 13.34.jpg

It's not laid perfectly flat and it's got a bit of slack but that doesn't bother me.
 
You need to better secure the romex coming from out of the junction box. I believe you need a staple within at least 12" of the box. You can't just have romex floating in the air like that without anything securing it.
 
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