Disrupt: no more power outlets ...

... power strips only! And at a height where it is useful again!

In our current household, which we wired to then standard NEC code 5 or so years ago, there's a one- or two-gang wall power outlet every so often, on each wall of each room of the house. One or more of these are on their own circuit. Note that these are very inconveniently placed ... a foot or so off the floor level.

The first thing we did, when we started living in this house, was add power strips ... one wall outlet has two plugs, so it now sports at least one power strip; in many cases, two power strips. Why? Because we need the outlets at "counter-, desk-, or any other height" that is more convenient than the wall outlet. Because we need more "plugs" for our device-hungry lifestyle. We hardly ever run all the devices at once, but they're all plugged in, all the time ...

So, *why have the wall outlet in the first place*? It's always "not where you need it", or "covered up by a piece of furniture". My back screams at me every time I have to work at the outlet level, because it's "way down there". The short answer of why it is needed is because "this is code-required" or even worse, "that's the way it's always been". The long answer? It needs disruption ... it needs something different. Something better ...

Disruptive design achieved:

For our clean-sheet TinyHome on Skids (THoS), we have a blank slate. We won't be putting an outlet along a wall every X feet, at Y feet off the floor. The 1st floor is built, and electrical is roughing in. What we are doing is wiring a two-gang (4 outlets) box at floor level, in each corner of the TH. A (heavy-duty) power strip leads up to "counter-height" from one of the plugs.

Now we have a minimum of 6 plugs at a height that is much more convenient! A power switch is there, meaning we can kill all the ghost power drains with one push of a button! Surge protection, usb ports, varying plug designs that support wall warts and other plugs! The corner design supports power strips leading away on either adjacent wall; varying power strip cord lengths means any scenario is supported.

We find the perfect power strip *for us* (plug layout, other features), and we "build it in" to the cabinet, wall, or desk it is destined for. it is literally "built-in" to the location or furniture scenario. Now we have 6 plugs, a switch, and much more, wherever we need it! Built-in so it looks nifty! It's more functional! If we leave for an extended trip, all the power strips are turned off ... no more KWH's of ghost power drain!

Each 4-outlet box is now backed by a 20-amp circuit (12/2 romex in conduit), and each circuit is an AFCI/GFCI circuit breaker. No 15-amp circuits anywhere. Power strips are heavy-duty as well, with their own fuses, surge protection, etc.

Could we have gotten away with this, under the current code? Probably not, and mostly for hysterical reasons. But, we abandon the code anyway, where it presents these "barriers" to how we do things; in this case, the way we want to use the power. For clean-sheet stuff, like this THoS, we do away with the code altogether, and put in something we think is much better.

It's not "code-free", as it meets or beats code in many ways ... it's *better-than-code*, because now it *works the way we do*! No more silly outlets in the wrong place!

Hope this helps others ...

If you read the OP and thought "what about lighting"?

No more dedicated circuits to the "lighting" function! It's totally separate from main power, and 12v only (and PoE possibly), but definitely low-voltage.

The savings should be incredible. Smaller main power loadcenters (no romex to lights, no separate breakers), separate (boat-like) bluesea 12v panel (loadcenter for 12v).

The goal has always been to separate lighting from other power requirements ... we want lighting to always be available, and by directly hooking it up to the batteries, it is. Power is out for other reasons? Batteries are always on, and can be refilled ... thus, lighting is always on, even in emergency scenarios.

It's why this TH, and any home we build, will always have a battery-bank system; a buffer of power, and I always advocate a buffer of some kind for every system. Power, water, etc.

It seems to me, Jt, that you used many key permaculture principles while planning your THoS. Things like "observe" (how do we use what we use), the idea of "zones" ( just on an in-house scale), redundancy, and I'm sure more would fit!

I do trust that you also have considered a way of anchoring your THoS? Storms are getting bigger and nastier - no point having a perfect electrical system if the house blows over!

Yes wrt tie-downs ... can't have the daughter unintentionally flying off into the sunset!

The skids will drop down into the pockets, as seen on this post:

 https://permies.com/t/178689/Permieable-TinyHome-Skids

and then will further be tied-down to ground anchors. The chain-pulling system (to skid things around later, if needed) also becomes part of the tie-down mechanism.

As old mobile-home guys have told me before, "we must properly tie-down a MH ... the building itself may still blow away, but the tie-downs & floor frame will survive" ... or something like that!

I love this.

I always wanted to do this in my houses. On one I put in a green switch and the power savings was substantial on that.

My power bill is not too high anyway, but a separate light power supply side would be sweet.

Again, nice! I am jealous.

Our electrician delights in eliminating people's use of power strips and extension cords. Appliances plugged directly into wall sockets.
The OP's system seems overbuilt on the supply side, and quite safe, but the "temporary" power strips are where the weak link and code non-compliance might happen. Ordinary wall switches could be used to the same effect as the switches on the strips.
There is a product called "Plug-Mold", which is basically a hard-wired power strip. It is available in various outlet spacings; 12", 9", 6", and now USB A.

It's a shame that switched outlets got such a bad rap. Lamps became less common after recessed lighting became popular. People wanted or needed the outlet to power electronic devices, and invariably someone would come by slapping their hand at the wall and shutting 'all of the things' down, complete with numerous clocks being reset and ever increasing start up times. If you install a kill switch somewhere more than a couple feet from a doorway then that mostly eliminates random people shutting all of your things off when it is inconvenient. The switches used in power strips aren't designed to be cycled a thousand times a year for years on end like a cheap wall switch.

I still use old power strips to switch things off, and have wired in my own wall switch inline with a power strip bypassing a failed switch, but it would be nice to see switched receptacles installed more frequently in common living areas. I'm really glad I saw this to remind me to go watch the recent Technology Connections video on this subject:



As mentioned in the video, I ended up bypassing the switch by my front door because many people would make the mistake of needlessly playing with the switch and invariably shutting things down while I was using them. It's location was terrible. If there wasn't a giant bay window next to it I would have moved the switch over far enough to avoid that being a problem, but it's currently just easier to use my power strip.

We spent a year volunteering on a conservation ship and did a lot of renovation on it during that time.  One of the things that really made sense was the insistence that we hard wire power cords into any place where people sat regularly - directly under the breakfast bar or recessed into the base of the sofa's storage compartment, several under benchtops in the galley.  It was hella convenient and made a lasting impact on me.

We're in a bus now, parked up on a rural acre and primarily use 12v.  One thing that saves us comparatively large amounts of electricity is motion activated 12v LED down lights.  I saw them online and pointed them out to my husband, mostly mockingly, but he saw the potential so we ordered them.  Tell you what, not only do they use much less power than the 12v tube lights that were here when we bought the joint, but being able to zone our lighting save us from having to illuminate unnecessary areas and it means there's much less need to manoeuvre around each other in a tiny space.  Plus, we're more likely to use light in times when it's actually beneficial for us - if he's sitting on the sofa plugging away on his computer and it is getting dark out he's much more likely to reach up and wave his hand under the motion sensor than he would be to get up and go flip a switch.

Jt Lamb wrote:... power strips only! And at a height where it is useful again!

In our current household, which we wired to then standard NEC code 5 or so years ago, there's a one- or two-gang wall power outlet every so often, on each wall of each room of the house. One or more of these are on their own circuit. Note that these are very inconveniently placed ... a foot or so off the floor level.

The first thing we did, when we started living in this house, was add power strips ... one wall outlet has two plugs, so it now sports at least one power strip; in many cases, two power strips. Why? Because we need the outlets at "counter-, desk-, or any other height" that is more convenient than the wall outlet. Because we need more "plugs" for our device-hungry lifestyle. We hardly ever run all the devices at once, but they're all plugged in, all the time ...

Why not just put a double-duplex (4 gang box) at the four foot level of your home instead of buying so many power strips? Depending on what you buy, you might have problems with overloading if you use heavy demand appliances plugged into them.

It would be easy to add 4 gang boxes. Just cut a hole for them at the four foot level. Run a wire down to the old box. Wire nut the wires together, cover the box with a cover plate, then wire in your double duplex outlets higher up. It would take about half an hour, be far more safe, and look clean and professional.