Wiring a gas light for electricity?

12 years ago

I thought I read somewhere (I wish I could recall where) that it is difficult to impossible to wire a gas light for electricity due to the narrow interior openings inside where the wires would go. Is this true? I want to install period lighting (chandeliers) in my old home and would prefer to go with antique gasoliers rather than electric reproductions. If they are too hard to rewire, though, I may have to change my plans.

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Comments (11)

Carol_from_ny
12 years ago
It can't be too hard. I have two large wall hanging lights that were originally gas. They are now electric. Somebody must have thought they were worth the effort.

I have friends who own old houses and have looked for gas lights. The biggest problem they have run into is the gas lights have already been electrified.
Billl
12 years ago
Just about everything having to do with restoring an old house is difficult. That doesn't mean it isn't worth the effort. :)

As a practical matter though, wires are smaller than any gas tube I've seen. They will fit in. How difficult that fit is will depend on the complexity of that path. A gently arc is certainly easier to coax a wire through than a path with lots of sharp bends.
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A proper 120v circuit has a hot, neutral, and a ground. What you describe is a hot and a ground. While such an arrangement will function it's certainly not to code and potentially dangerous. As suggested your best bet is to run a new 20-amp circuit. The other alternative and I'm not sure if current code allows this is to remove the existing 50 amp, double pole breaker and replace it with a 20 amp, single pole breaker. Use one of the two insulated wires in the existing cable as your hot and the other as the neutral. The uninsulated wire is the ground. The problem is that the heavier wire typically won't fit in a 20 amp breaker or receptacle. So you need to connect a short length of 12 ga. wire at each end of the two heavy wires, most likely with a split bolt. I'm sure someone will comment on if such a method meets current code.
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columbusguy1
12 years ago
My attic sconce is a combination gas/electric...the wires are on the inside, so I can't think it would be too hard. My house is from 1908.
kudzu9
12 years ago
Since a gas sconce doesn't have an Underwriters Lab certification, you would be installing an illegal electrical fixture, which could pose a fire or shock hazard. You may want to ask your home insurer if they are ok with this kind of thing first...
brickeyee
12 years ago
"Since a gas sconce doesn't have an Underwriters Lab certification, you would be installing an illegal electrical fixture, which could pose a fire or shock hazard. "

Use UL listed materials for the mod and you are fine.

No reason to tell your insurance company anything.
kudzu9
12 years ago
UL certification does not apply just to the materials (i.e., switches, wires, etc,), but to the entire fixture, including whether/how it is grounded. And the reference to the home insurer was an attempt at irony, which apparently was lost....
brickeyee
12 years ago
"UL certification does not apply just to the materials (i.e., switches, wires, etc,), but to the entire fixture, including whether/how it is grounded."

Folks have been making light fixtures out of objects (wine bottles, artillery shells, even turned wood lamps) for a long time.

You are greatly exaggerating the risk and difficulty.

Use UL components and it will be fine.
kudzu9
12 years ago
"You are greatly exaggerating the risk and difficulty."

No, I'm just stating facts, and the OP can take it from there....
brickeyee
12 years ago
""You are greatly exaggerating the risk and difficulty."

No, I'm just stating facts, and the OP can take it from there...."

Next thing you will claim us that you cannot repair a lamp or fixture.

A gas fixture is metal.
The bulbs will likely be chandelier style.
Just about any zip cord inside a metal sleeve is not going to present any kind of fire hazard.

About the only thing that IS important is to make sure you have an adequate ground connection to the metal of the lamp.

It needs to be a tapped machine screw hole.
Self tapping screws are NOT allowed.
kudzu9
12 years ago
brickeyee-
Your advice would be much better received by many on these forums if you wouldn't try so hard to be a curmudgeon. Is it really that difficult to accept that reasonable people can have different points of view? I just try to be helpful when I reply to posts. I'm not in a competition to get the last word or see how sarcastic I can be.
jlc102482
Original Author
12 years ago
To be on the safe side, I have decided to have an antique lighting specialist do the rewiring for me. Thanks for the help!

Wiring a gas light for electricity?

Comments (11)

Carol_from_ny

Billl

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Wiring a gas light for electricity?

Comments (11)

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