Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
I need to attach some photos here first and then I will explain what I mean by specially designed rubber plugs.
This is a photo of a British metal back box installed inside the wall.
You can see two grommets at the bottom of the box where the wires would go through.
But if you want to connect these boxes to conduits (metal or plastic) you will need these fittings
The problem is when you install these boxes inside the wall on a newly built brick or block wall and conduits connected to them with these adapters at the end you will need to do plastering and that is the moment that pieces of plaster can get into the conduits through these holes. I was thinking of having some sort of rubber plugs that we can plug into these holes and then do the plastering so nothing can get in. I did google it but I could not find anything like that. I think it would be a good thing to have specially if you do electric work on brick/block walls.
How about jamming a paper towel fragment into the hole during the plastering.
The emergency marine plugs may also work, but they are expensive.
There are many versions of this plug.
Note that it is always good to avoid galvanic corrosion when dissimilar metal joints exist.
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I have tried paper and paper towel but somehow the plasterers have managed to move them a bit, I am so fussy with cleaning and I always do clean the extra plaster left inside these boxes myself with care and not let anything get in but it is very time consuming sometimes. I have to try these wooden plugs to see if they really work or not, they might become loose easily though. The price is not important as you can reuse them always.
The other thing I do is use my shop vac to clean out the box before completing the project. It also works for removing minor amounts of debris that makes it into a conduit. I like my boxes clean before closing everything up. Also like all my wires labeled on my panel. Here is a recent panel.
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wingless wrote:
14 minutes ago, wingless said:The other thing I do is use my shop vac to clean out the box before completing the project. It also works for removing minor amounts of debris that makes it into a conduit. I like my boxes clean before closing everything up. Also like all my wires labeled on my panel. Here is a recent panel.
Yes, I use the vac. cleaner also for cleaning them.