Question for Electricians

[8Muddypaws]

I have a 2 gang 'waterproof' box in my front yard patio. It was mounted on the exterior of the house many years ago, probably by the original owner. (He did some really stupid stuff.)

The box contained a 20A plug and a switch. The switch burned out and I attempted to replace it. Removing the outdoor plate resulted in the two lower screws breaking off completely. Removing the switch and receptacle resulted in those two lower screws breaking off as well.

I had vinyl siding installed about 15 years ago and the people who installed it made a channel for the conduit and filled it up with some sort of very hard sealant. Removing and replacing the box will be extremely difficult and carries the risk of destroying the siding. I'd rather not do that.

There is a sub-panel a couple of feet from the box. It was for the pool we had taken out several years ago but it still serves a storage room, a dry heat sauna and a bathroom. All of the punch outs in the sub panel have been used.

OK. Here's the questions:

Can I drill a 1/2 inch hole in the bottom of the sub panel? (I have a step drill that will probably do it). If so I can simply abandon the old box and mount a new (non metallic) box to a square lamp post I'll be replacing soon. (The original owner stuck wooden posts in the ground with no sand, gravel, or mortar so they rotted out). Yeah, he was a complete idiot.

Is it possible to drill out the twisted off screws and re-tap the holes and use the existing box, conduit, and wires.

Thanks for your advice!

Russ (AKA Muddypaws)

 

[gwinger]

To drill the bottom of the sub panel you will have to make it big enough to put box connector in it. DO NOT just run the romex out the whole!
As far as drilling the old screws out, the box is probably made of aluminum or pot metal. I really doubt if you will be able to drill the screw without destroying the screw standoffs.
That was really a Mickey Mouse job.

 

[bigb56]

As mentioned you'll need a 7/8" hole in the sub panel for a 1/2" conduit connector. You won't be able to save that pot metal bell box. I've saved a few by adding an extension that fastens to different screw holes but yours doesn't have those holes.

It's also possible to come out of a side knockout into a horizontal box and use a horizontal WP cover. Keep in mind any receptacle that goes into that outdoor location needs to be a weather resistant GFCI, or a GFCI protected weather resistant receptacle and the cover needs to be a "weatherproof while in use" type commonly referred to as a "bubble" cover.

 

[8Muddypaws]

I was thinking Goofy. The guy who did it was a power systems engineer at IBM. This is nowhere near the worst he did.

I suspected it would be impossible to drill them out. On to plan B, or is it C?

There is a decorative iron fence around the patio. I'm thinking of drilling an additional hole in that Mickey Mouse sub-panel and running some plastic conduit to a box mounted on the fence with a couple of self tapping sheet metal screws.

 

[8Muddypaws]

Thanks. That circuit has a GFCI breaker in the Mickey Mouse sub panel already.

7/8" shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the tip about "Weatherproof while in use". I already bought one described as "Weatherproof" but that's only when closed.