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Wiring different gauge wires (18 awg to 14 awg)

Asked Feb 12, 2007, 08:57 PM — 5 Answers
I recently bought a house that has a nice wall lamp in the living room that I would like to keep as I renovate it. The lamp came wired with 18 awg wire (1 neutral, 1 hot, and 1 ground). The previous owner wired the lamp to a standard wire with a plug to make it a plug-in fixture. I don't know if this lamp was manufactured as a plug-in fixture, but I would like to hide the wires inside the wall. What I'm thinking about doing is to pull a wire from a receptacle, which is on 14/2 wiring on a 15 amp circuit. Then I will run the 14/2 wire to a single pole switch and from the swith, I'm planning to run the 14/2 wire to the 18 gauge wire on the wall lamp. My question is: Can I wire an 18 awg wire with a 14 awg wire? Will this be to code or will it be a fire hazard? I will appreciate your advice.

Thanks,

Ceomat

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tkrussell's Avatar
tkrussell Posts: 9,673, Reputation: 3698
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#2

Feb 13, 2007, 01:37 AM


#18 wire carrying 120 volts cannot be installed in walls. The fixture cord will need to splice onto the #14 at a wall or ceiling outlet junction box, just like any other fixture.
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ceomat's Avatar
ceomat Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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#3

Feb 13, 2007, 03:29 PM
Thanks tkrusell for replying to my question. I was planning to wire the #18 wire with the #14 right behind the fixture (between the wall and the fixture) to help dissipate heat of the #18 wire. Thank you for giving me confidence to tackle this job.
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tkrussell's Avatar
tkrussell Posts: 9,673, Reputation: 3698
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#4

Feb 14, 2007, 03:35 AM


The splicing of the #18 fixture wire to the #14 building wire needs to be done in a junction box with a cover.

What do you mean by "to help dissipate heat of the #18 wire". There should be no heat to dissipate. If there is or you anticiapte any heat, then something is seriously wrong.
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ceomat's Avatar
ceomat Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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#5

Feb 14, 2007, 03:13 PM
What I mean by "dissipate heat of the #18 wire" is that the electricity flow coming from a wider cable, in this case the #14, going into the #18 wire will slow the flow down and therefore cause some heat, but I guess it won't be noticeable, right? Is it okay to splice the wires in a junction box and place the fixture on top of it?
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tkrussell's Avatar
tkrussell Posts: 9,673, Reputation: 3698
Senior Electrical & Lighting Expert
  
#6

Feb 15, 2007, 02:36 AM


Sure.
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