Anyone know what this is?

MountaineerTom

MountaineerTom

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It’s in the floor just a foot or so in front of a fireplace, off to the left side, in a cabin we‘re staying in with some family over the weekend.

IMG_7865.jpeg
 
Our house was built in 2007, and we bought it in 2008 from the first owner. It has an outlet in the living room floor:

1702734438546.png


Unfortunately, it's useless. Not only because it's an outlet near the middle of the room (what did the owner want that for?), but it also doesn't work. It's wired, but has no power, and all GFCIs and circuit breakers are working. I've tried several times to find the other end of the run for the wires, but it's in a solid concrete slab and I can't detect it.
 
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sab said:
Our house was built in 2007, and we bought it in 2008 from the first owner. It has an outlet in the living room floor:

View attachment 482783

Unfortunately, it's useless. Not only because it's an outlet near the middle of the room (what did the owner want that for?), but it also doesn't work. It's wired, but has no power, and all GFCIs and circuit breakers are working. I've tried several times to find the other end of the run for the wires, but it's in a solid concrete slab and I can't detect it.
Click to expand...

Whoever installed it wasn't kind to that floor. :(
 
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Zorba said:
Whoever installed it wasn't kind to that floor. :(
Click to expand...

It probably wasn't the installer. Concrete cracks. Put a steel box with a brass cover in it, and you have stress risers. The floor is the slab, so unlike other houses with flooring installed, the cracks are not covered.
 
They still make a drop in like that with a single receptacle, that one could be older though. In those old houses they never have enough outlets and dropping them into the floor was an easy way to add more without having to go into the wall. BTDT. Being near the FP it might have been for a Heatilator unit.

floor box.jpg
 
sab said:
Our house was built in 2007, and we bought it in 2008 from the first owner. It has an outlet in the living room floor:

View attachment 482783

Unfortunately, it's useless. Not only because it's an outlet near the middle of the room (what did the owner want that for?), but it also doesn't work. It's wired, but has no power, and all GFCIs and circuit breakers are working. I've tried several times to find the other end of the run for the wires, but it's in a solid concrete slab and I can't detect it.
Click to expand...

Is it where someone might conceivably put a piece of furniture? I had one put in a house I had built back in 2012. I put it where it would be under the couch and I could put a lamp on an end table or a long table behind the sofa without a cord crossing where I walked, because it was an open living/kitchen/entry and there was human traffic around 3 sides of the room.

I forgot to do that at our current house, which is set up almost the exact same way, so I hope the wife never decides she wants a lamp any place other the two corners beside the fireplace.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Is it where someone might conceivably put a piece of furniture?
Click to expand...

There's only one wall that a TV fits on (windows on all other walls). As such, the couch goes on the opposite wall. This is about three feet in front of the couch. We do have a coffee table there, and it might be nice to have power for chargers there. However, in 2006, when this home would have been designed, we weren't yet slaves to screens, so that doesn't make much sense. Maybe the former owners were clairvoyant? :ROFLMAO:
 
sab said:
There's only one wall that a TV fits on (windows on all other walls). As such, the couch goes on the opposite wall. This is about three feet in front of the couch. We do have a coffee table there, and it might be nice to have power for chargers there. However, in 2006, when this home would have been designed, we weren't yet slaves to screens, so that doesn't make much sense. Maybe the former owners were clairvoyant? :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Based on my experience with home builds, more likely they asked for an outlet and missed on the dimensions or didn't provide any, so the electrician just shot from the hip and put it in the very middle of the room instead of asking. They were probably as baffled by it as you are. 🤣
 
MountaineerTom said:
It’s in the floor just a foot or so in front of a fireplace, off to the left side, in a cabin we‘re staying in with some family over the weekend.

View attachment 482748
Click to expand...

We live in a house built in the early '50s and I was raised in a house built in '48. We had several of those in the floor. It may be an electrical outlet, placed for the end of a couch for a table lamp, or placed for a floor lamp. On the other hand, it may also be a gas cutoff for your fireplace, if it has a gas fire starter. Best way to find out is to get a big screwdriver and open it up.

20231217_111159.jpg

This is in our kitchen floor and is a 220VAC outlet, probably for an old electric skillet or deep fryer.
 
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