What is in this article?:
- What's Wrong Here?
- Find the Answer
How well do you know the Code? Think you can spot violations the original installer either ignored or couldn't identify himself? 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. Joe Tedesco, who has a knack for finding shoddy electrical work, did the dirty work and found this mess. Now it's your turn to identify
Find the Answer
Gregory Enos, E.I.T., an electrical designer at Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc. in Michigan City, Ind., identified the following violations from the May photo. “Conductors need to be spliced with splicing devices identified for the use; electrical tape doesn't cut it [110.14(B)].Lampholders need to be suitable for a wet location (110.3), and where lampholders have terminals of a type that puncture the insulation and make contact with the conductors, they shall be attached only to conductors of the stranded type (225.24). Conductors used for festoon lighting shall be rubber-covered or thermoplastic (225.4).”
Brett Davis, a second-year apprentice with Local 380 in Collegeville, Pa., also identified problems that violated the requirements of 225.4 (Conductor Covering) and 225.24 (Outdoor Lampholders). “The lamps should possibly have been caged for protection,” he wrote.
In addition to identifying a violation of the requirements of 225.24, Mel Traughber, an apprentice electrician with R.I.C. Electric, Inc. in Lander, Wyo., noted the lampholders shall have guards (520.65), and the lampholder and lamps aren't suitable for installation in a wet location (410.4).
