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Shicks · Jan 17, 2006, 12:59 AM

I had an electrician install some under cabinet puck lights. The puck lights were a last minute addition to the recessed lights he installed. After watching him install the recessed lights I thought it looked easy so I put some more in myself in another room. I got all kind of books and read forums to make sure I was doing the wiring right. I kind of have a general idea about wiring.. After learning about circuit breakers, I recognized a potential problem with the installation of the puck lights. The electrician installed the puck lights under the cabinet. The wires which were 18 awg are ran inside the cabinet and are secured with staples. The 18 gauge wire enters a junction box inside the cabinet. Inside this junction box is a 14/2 awg wire that is connected to a switch on the wall. It works fine but I think there may be a problem. The puck lights were came with a plug. The electrician hardwired the 18 awg to the 14/2. The 14/2 gets power from the switch junction box on the wall. The circuit is a 20 AMP circuit. After reading it seems like 12/2 should have been ran to the junction box in the cabinet. Also, I am questioning if a receptacle should have been install in the cabinet instead of hardwiring the pucks. Then the pucks could have been plugged into the outlet in the cabinet. Is there a problem with this situation or am I wrong? Thank you.

tkrussell · Jan 17, 2006, 02:53 AM

Seems that your electrician took some liberty with codes to install your puck lights. All building wiring on a 20 amp circuit should be #12, so the #14 should be changed to #12. The light fixture is UL listed as a plug in fixture, so now the UL listing of the fixture is violated.

Your electrician has technically violated both the National Electric Code and Underwriters Laboratories, but neither can be considered a serious safety concern. You can either ask the electrician to make the installation correct, or ask your electrical inspector to check the installation and either allow the installation to remain or require the electrician to make the necessary corrections.

Shicks · Jan 17, 2006, 06:31 PM

That is what I thought. Thank you for the reply.

Borewyrm · Jan 21, 2006, 01:08 PM

Well it really is a concern, if there were to be a fire and that was the cause it could cause big headaches. The other concern is that if you hired and Electrician to do the job it should be done right and in accordance with you local codes! Anything less is unaceptable.