How well do you know the Code? Think you can spot violations the original installer either ignored or couldn’t identify? Here's your chance to moonlight as an electrical inspector and second-guess someone else's work from the safety of your living room or office. Can you identify the specific Code violation(s) in this photo? Note: Submitted comments must include specific references from the 2023 NEC.
Hint: A scary switchboard situation
Tell Them What They've Won…
Using the 2023 NEC, correctly identify the Code violation(s) in this month's photo — in 200 words or less — and you could win an Arlington Industries 18-in. Slider Bar and plastic box for mounting between studs with non-standard spacing. E-mail your response, including your name and mailing address, to [email protected], and Russ will select three winners (excluding manufacturers and prior winners) at random from the correct submissions. Note that submissions without an address will not be eligible to win.
September Winners
Our winners this month were: Mark Varisco, P.E., lead electrical engineer for Engineering & Inspection Services, LLC, Metairie, La.; and Patrick Connolly, an EC&M reader and contest participant from Detroit. They knew these service conductors are installed way too close to the windows.
A person could easily open the window and grab those wires with their bare hands or decide to hang a plant basket from those wires. We certainly don’t want either of those things to happen. Section 230.9(A) requires service conductors to have a clearance of at least 3 ft from any windows designed to be open, doors, balconies, porches, fire escapes, stairs, or similar locations. This 3-ft clearance does not apply to conductors in a raceway or cable assembly having an overall outer jacket. The exception for Sec. 230.9(A) allows conductors run above the top level of a window to be less than 3 ft, but that exception does not apply to wires such as these drip loops, which are installed right next to the side of a window.
