What’s Wrong Here? Hint: It's Mind Bottling

November Winners

Our winners this month include: Vincent Hueber, P.E., facility engineer, Syracuse Housing Authority, Syracuse, N.Y.; Perry R. Kruse, owner, Perry Kruse Electric, Northfield, Minn.; and Jayson Sorum, electrician, Grand Forks Public School District, Grand Forks, N.D. They all correctly identified the following violations associated with this damaged conduit.

It looks like this installer may have been absent from class on pipe bending day, or perhaps he took the class, “How to Bend Pipe with Hammers 101.” In any case, the EMT has been damaged, and its internal diameter has been effectively reduced. This is clearly a violation of 358.24, as proper pipe bending techniques were not used on this EMT. The installation is also not very “neat and workmanlike,” as required by 110.12.

Damaging the EMT in this manner can cause problems with the conductors as they get pulled through the pipe. Imagine yourself trying to pull a bundle of conductors through the kinks on that bend. Some of the kinks in this pipe are so bad that they could even prevent the wires from being pulled in at all.

Many different types of pipe benders are available for electricians to use. Hammers, however, don’t make for a good pipe bender!