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What's Wrong Here

May 14, 2007 2:38 PM, By Joe Tedesco

Answer:

Hint: You’ve got mail

I took this picture in Omaha, Neb. It was part of a service entrance raceway that was run on the side of a building and fed into a meter socket enclosure. I have seen this happen before where the interior of a raceway filled with rainwater — and when it froze — it actually split the raceway as it did here. I can't image the way in which this "elbow" could be "arranged to drain." I wonder what the service entrance conductors look like? I’m still not quite sure why the mailbox was here.

Outside branch circuits and feeder raceways installed on the exterior of buildings, or other structures, are required to be arranged such that they drain and remain raintight when installed in wet locations (225.22).

Raceways enclosing service-entrance conductors that are exposed to the weather are required to be raintight, and be arranged to drain. Where embedded in masonry, raceways must be arranged to drain (230.53).

A wet location includes: installations installed underground, or in concrete slabs, or masonry in direct contact with the earth; locations subject to saturation with water or other liquids, such as vehicle washing areas; and in unprotected locations exposed to weather.