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 specific Code violation(s) in this photo? Note: Submitted comments must include specific references from the 2017 NEC.
Hint: Conduit calamity
February Winners
“I don’t want to say exactly where I saw this, but it’s a club that I stop at from time to time,” says P.W. from Indiana. “There is a ceiling fan over a work table in the kitchen, and apparently they needed an outlet at the table. It certainly makes for a great discussion.”
Our winners this month were George Ferguson, an electrical foreman with JSD Development in Westland, Mich.; Eric M. Boyer, P.E., an electrical engineer with American Water Engineering in Mechanicsburg, Pa.; and Mike Stone, a senior manufacturing engineer with Haworth in Holland, Mich. They were all able to correctly point out some of the Code violations here, including
Sec. 352.30(A), which requires this PVC conduit to be securely fastened within 3 ft of each outlet or junction box and at 3-ft intervals thereafter. The fan is being used as a junction box here, and I am sure connecting a PVC conduit to it in this manner would violate Sec. 110.3(B) since it is definitely not designed for this purpose. Lastly, I strongly doubt the receptacle installed at the end of the PVC was provided with GFCI protection as required by Sec. 210.8(B)(2).