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. It's your turn to identify the violation.
Hint: A shocking development
October Winners
Our two winners this month were: Gilbert Dominguez, a project manager for Century Electric in San Antonio; and Dan Ronan, a foreman for Electrical Installations in Belmont, N.H. They were each able to correctly identify a Code violation in this installation.
Whether the wires in this box are power, control, or fire alarm doesn’t really matter when it comes to the requirement that a cover needs to be installed on this box. Section 314.25 requires each box to have a cover, faceplate, lamp holder, or luminaire canopy installed in order to be considered complete and Code compliant. Obviously, that’s not the case here.
The amount of wires stuffed into this box leads me to believe the box fill requirements of Sec. 314.16 may have been violated too.
Another problem we can see is that the flexible metal conduit (FMC) is being supported by the electrical metallic tubing (EMT) with a cable tie. Securing FMC to the EMT is a violation of the general requirements of Sec. 300.11(B).
In the background of the photo, we can see wires running through a huge hole that was blasted through the sheetrock. Leaving this gaping hole is a violation of Sec. 300.21, which requires openings to be firestopped using an approved method of maintaining the fire-resistance rating of this wall.