ductselectricalwirewiring
I have a space between walls that is about 14" deep and 8 foot wide, and goes from the floor to the ceiling. This space is on the second floor. Petty much in the center of the house. The space contains a sealed round air duct and also PVC water supply pipes. They go from the attic to the first floor in this space.
I will have an electrician rewire the house going from aluminum to copper.
Can the wires be run in this space as well?
Drywall is the enemy.
That dryer vent is disconcerting; lets find out what other shenanigans are going on here. You may not have ever done ductwork but at least you seem to know a proper installation will require opening the walls to install rigid (use flexible only if you must).
Can you run it in the attic, sure: at a loss of efficiency; longer run, more leaks\back-pressure. Also, efficiency will drop like a rock if you run any ducts through unconditioned space. Ideally everything is within the building envelope.
Running ducts isn't that hard; fixing what you had to destroy to get them in, is.
You will cut yourself while working with sheet metal. Proceed slowly and methodically; everything is sharp...
May I introduce you to smurf tube? It's actually designed for the job, and meets your flexibility requirement.
(Technically ENT (Electrical Nonmetallic Tubing), and it comes in non-smurfy orange as well as smurf blue.)
Best Answer
Yes you can run electric in any interior wall. You cannot run electric inside of water supply lines, inside duct, or attach electric to either.
The cavity you describe is common in a lot of house layouts. I have a 8 foot section that is about 12 inches wide in the middle of my house. It has duct work, main stack and tons of plumbing, with plenty of electric too.