Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Cord wire in the wall.

I was planning on hooking up some under the cabinet puck lights in my kitchen. I have an electrical outlet on the back wall. My question is why can't I run the regular lamp cord wire (that came with the lights) from the outlet into the wall and up 9 inches to the puck lights. In other words, why can't I run lamp cord wire in the wall. I know it's not made for inside the wall, but why can't you use it? Not enough insulation? These puck lights are rated at 20w, so there will be only 40w being drawn through the wire. Please help with my confusion. Thanks.

The shortest answer is because it would violate the National Electrical Code. Only Chapter 3 wiring methods can be run inside the walls. Lamp cord is NOT Chapter 3 recognized method for use within walls.

The lights should also not be hardwired into the small appliance countertop circuits either. No lighting load should be on the small appliance circuits.

I'd just like to add that the insulation on lampcord is not the same as NM cable. Therefore it is limited in its use

The reason for the requirement is that lamp cord gets all crispy and brittle over the course of time. If the cord is out where you can see it, you'll discard it before it gets too bad. Bury it in a wall, and your first clue that there is something wrong with it might be when the fireman pulls it out of the ruins...

Thanks so much for the replys...I get the picture now...time to go get some romex...Thanks again.

Thanks so much for the replys...I get the picture now...time to go get some romex...Thanks again.

Just make sure that you read and understand ALL of pcboss's reply. The outlets for your countertops are "dedicated" to small appliances. If you hardwire lighting into these circuits you have a code violation.

Oh, I guess I need some more clarification. Why can't you hardwire lights to a outlet. These outlets are along the backsplash and are hardly used. I might plug a blender into one once in a while but most of the time they are not being used - no toaster or anything like that. Besides the violating code thing, why can't I wire these lights to the outlet? I was planning hooking up 2 - 20 watt lamps to this, so it's not like I'm lighting up the whole house. Please help me with my ignorance. :confused:

Codes are designed to meet typical usage based on cultural norms. Although your kitchen receptacles may be lightly used, that's not the norm.

Because codes seek the middle ground, they don't apply perfectly to any one person. Unfortunately it would not be possible to have a separate set of codes for each person. And the reality is that most homes pass through many hands, and it should be safe for all of them.

One example of cultural norms is that Americans tend to use hairdryers in the bathroom, and American codes reflect that. But Europeans tend to use hairdryers in the bedroom, and European codes reflect that. Codes adapt to fit the appliances and lifestyles popular at the time they are created, and that changes over time and location.

I just want to thank you for your replys...they are very informative. Okay, this is what I wound up doing...Due to tight working conditions (the kitchen cabinets are already up etc.) I decided to run lamp cord from the electrical outlet on the backsplash, into the wall, and up to these under the cabinet puck lights (total length of wire - 20 in.). But I added a 250v 2 amp in-line fuse to this cord at the electrical box. I felt that if something ever happened to this lamp cord over the years (brittle insulation, inadvertent nail etc.) the 15 amp breaker this curcuit is on might not trip quick enough, so I added this fuse which will blow a lot quicker if there's any sort of problem. I had the lights on for 4 hours last night and they work great. I'm new to this forum and find it very informative...I will visit this offen...Many thanks.

Just a word of warning..... if you go to sell the house in the future & the buyer wants it inspected this will not pass.