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 2017 NEC.
Hint: Suspended ceiling secrets
July Winners
Our two winners this month were Marissa Sexton, an electrical engineer with Ross & Baruzzini of Webster Groves, Mo., and Guy Gignac, an EC&M reader from Roxbury, Conn.
I’m not exactly sure how the installer was able to get this extension cord through the hole drilled in the window frame since the hole seems a little too small for the cord end to fit through. Perhaps he or she cut off the male attachment plug end, passed the cord through the hole, then attached a new attachment plug. I can only speculate on what may have happened. In any case, using a cord set in this manner is a violation of Sec. 400.12. Section 400.12(2) prohibits flexible cables, flexible cord sets, and power supply cords from being run through holes in walls, ceilings, or floors. Section 400.12(3) prohibits flexible cables, flexible cord sets, and power supply cords from being run through doorways, windows, or similar openings. There’s a high probability that this cord set is not suitable for use in this outdoor wet location either. Section 400.3 requires flexible cords, flexible cables, and their fittings to be suitable for the conditions and location.
‘Tell Them What They’ve Won...’
Using the 2017 NEC, correctly identify the Code violation(s) in this month’s photo — in 200 words or less — and you could win an Arlington Industries FLBT4400SS countertop box kit, which includes a stainless steel trap door cover and a 20A decorator-style, tamper-resistant receptacle. 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.