A Boxless Splice
I spotted these “flying splices” during a recent trip to Tennessee. The installer joined two pieces of liquidtight flexible nonmetallic conduit (LFNC) and their contained conductors together without installing any type of junction box or splice box. When the wiring method is conduit, tubing, or cables, Sec. 300.15 requires a box or conduit body to be installed for conductor splice points such as these, as well as outlet points, switches, junction points, and conductor termination or pull points. Where LFNC is installed in lengths longer than 6 ft, Sec. 356.30(1) requires the LFNC to be securely fastened at intervals no greater than 3 ft and within 12 in. of each outlet box, cabinet, or fitting. Most of the LFNC installed here is flopping all over the place without being securely fastened in place. The splices and energized conductors poking out from under the black tape can pose a significant shock hazard because they can easily be reached by most adults passing by this public sidewalk location. If this was some type of temporary installation, flying splices would still be a violation since
Sec. 590.4(G) only allows temporary splices of cords or cables to be installed without boxes on construction sites.
Failed Floodlight Installation
This broken installation was a failure from day one. To start with, the box is not properly supported. Section 352.12(B) prohibits PVC conduit from being used for the support of luminaires or equipment other than nonmetallic conduit bodies. Using PVC conduit to support a box is simply not permitted. The next problem is the mismatched wiring methods. The installer tried to use liquidtight flexible nonmetallic conduit (LFNC) with PVC conduit connectors. Section 356.42 only permits fittings listed for use with LFNC to be used. PVC conduit connectors are not listed for this purpose. Section 300.15 also requires fittings to be used only with the wiring methods for which they are specifically designed and listed. The separated raceway violates Sec. 300.12, which requires raceways to be continuous between boxes, fittings, cabinets, or other enclosures. The brick placed on the ground appears to be a lame attempt at providing some type of support for the box or the LFNC. While the luminaire appears to be rigidly supported, I’m not sure it was designed to be bolted directly to a piece of strut hammered into the ground. This may be a violation, too, since Sec. 410.6 requires luminaires to be listed, and Sec. 110.3(B) requires listed equipment to be installed in accordance with the instructions included with the listing.