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What’s Wrong Here? December 2011

Dec 24, 2011 5:01 PM, By Joe Tedesco, NEC Consultant

Can you identify the Code violation(s) in this photo?

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?

Hint: Traffic lights still working?

‘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 joseph.tedesco@yahoo.com, 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.)

OCTOBER WINNERS

We had three winners this month: Michael A. Patti, IBEW technician, Massapequa Park, N.Y.; Alan Burczyk, project manager, Barbaro Electric Co., Inc., Hackensack, N.J.; and Bud Reichard, P.E., owner, AES Associates, Seattle. They were all unimpressed with the mounting configuration of this outdoor luminaire.

As noted in 410.10(A), “luminaires installed in wet or damp locations shall be installed such that water cannot enter or accumulate in wiring compartments, lampholders, or other electrical parts.” This fixture was mounted so low to the ground that it could only be arranged to face upward. There’s no way that water could be kept from entering the socket. The other item to make note of is the type of lamp that has been installed in this fixture, which appears to be an indoor-rated bulb, not an outdoor-rated lamp.

Although you can’t see it in the photo, the fixture had this sentence stamped on it: “Wet location when lampholder is aimed below horizontal.”

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