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w0lley32

switch loop with 14/3 to feed from switch still allowed?

w0lley32
15 years ago

Hi! I am helping my brother to remodel his basement in a house that was built in 1969. I noticed that the upper level of his bungalow was wired by feeding the power to the ceiling light fixture box first, then they distribute from the fixture to other outlets and/or another room, and they run a 14/3 to the switch (switch is not a 3-way switch), and use the red to switch the fixture. The black from the 14/3 is wire-nutted to a pigtail for the switch and the black from another cable (14/2) to go feed another room or an outlet on the same wall. The neutrals are of course all tied together at the switch and at the fixture box.

I am very familiar with electrical work and it is a wiring method that I have encountered frequently, but I don't seem to see it anymore in more recent houses.

I was thinking of using this method to rewire my brother's basement since it allows for less connections and with less connections less chance for one to get loose or heat up, and it also seems that it needs a bit less cable this way. Also, if it is still allowed, can you have more than one of these switch loops on the same circuit? All the houses I have worked on before always had only one per circuit.

Thanks in advance!

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