Can you identify the Code violation(s) in this photo?
Hint: Conductors blowing in the wind
Find the Answer
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 Code violation(s) in this photo?
‘Tell Them What They’ve Won...’
Using the 2011 NEC, correctly identify the Code sections that show violation(s) in this month’s photo — in 200 words or less — and you could win something to put in your toolbox. E-mail your response to [email protected], and we’ll select three winners (excluding manufacturers and prior winners) at random from the correct submissions. Winners will receive a set of insulated hand tools from Ideal Industries, Inc., valued at more than $125.* The set includes 9.25-in. insulated side-cutting pliers, 10-in. insulated tongue-and-groove pliers, and a 0.25-in. 3 6-in. insulated screwdriver. (* Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of tools.)
JUNE WINNERS
Well, this was a first. No winners for the month of June! It appears this photo didn’t allow anyone to really figure out that this was a surface raceway running through the middle of a baseboard heater. We’ll try and make sure we’re not as cryptic with our future photos.
It’s pretty obvious this raceway — and thus the conductors inside of it — would easily be subjected to high temperatures based on its close proximity to the heater. As such, we can reference the temperature limitation requirements outlined in 310.15(A)(3).
“No conductor shall be used in such a manner that its operating temperature exceeds that designated for the type of insulated conductor involved. In no case shall conductors be associated together in such a way, with respect to type of circuit, the wiring method employed, or the number of conductors, that the limiting temperature of any conductor is exceeded.”
About the Author
Joe Tedesco
Tedesco served the industry in many roles during his career. He was a director, senior electrical code instructor for National Technology Transfer, Inc. and American Trainco, Inc.. He was also a codes, standards and seminar specialist for the International Association of Electrical Inspectors and an electrical field service specialist for the National Fire Protection Association in Quincy, Mass. He ran his own business as an NEC consultant and is a Massachusetts licensed master electrician and journeyman electrician and certified electrical inspector (one and two family 2A; General 2B, and Plan Review, 2C). Tedesco also wrote articles for CEE News and EC&M (Code Violations Illustrated and What's Wrong Here?) for more than 15 years and helped launched the Moving Violations video series.