Code Clusters is a fond look back at some of the most interesting and outlandish Code violations published in the pages of EC&M magazine over the past 15 years — the item below is the first in a series of 10. Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear your feedback! Post your thoughts in the box below.
Fork it Over, Dude
All references are based on the 2005 edition of the NEC.
While performing work at a government site, Gary Hack of Benet Labs, Department of Army, New York, stumbled across this homemade heating unit that employees were using to flash cook their lunch. “I couldn’t find a UL label on it,” Hack wrote.
Although the NEC doesn’t specifically prohibit such a contraption, the situation does present some very serious personal safety concerns. One particular section of the Code worth reviewing is 110.3, Examination, Identification, Installation, and Use of Equipment. Section (A) of this rule focuses on examination and states in part, “In judging equipment, considerations such as: suitability for installation and use in conformity with the provisions of this Code, heating effects under normal conditions of use and also under abnormal conditions likely to arise in service, arcing effects, and other factors that contribute to the practical safeguarding of persons using or likely to come in contact with the equipment.”
