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. It's your turn to identify the violation.
Hint: This could be referred to as a hot mess.
May Winners
A big “thank you” goes to Charles Cole, LEED AP, with Biagi, Chance, Cummins, London, Titzer, Inc., for sharing this great photo with us. Our three winners this month were: Daniel Whittaker, a fourth-year apprentice for a plywood mill in Coquille, Ore.; Timothy Wetzel, an electrician from Laverne, Okla.; and Jeremy Cole, an electrician for King Electric of Trenton, Maine. Each of these readers was able to correctly identify the following Code violations.
This installation certainly gives new meaning to the phrase “arranged to drain.” While Sec. 230.53 requires service raceways exposed to the weather to be arranged to drain, I don’t think it includes using a sink trap with a clean out as the proper means of draining. This plumbing pipe is not a wiring method recognized as suitable by Sec. 110.8 of the Code. In addition, the bends in the pipe seem way too sharp and are probably not in compliance with the requirements of Table 2 in Chapter 9. I think it would be very difficult to install or remove any wiring through them without damaging the conductor insulation. And last but not least, the floppy SE cable coming out of the top of the meter enclosure is not properly secured within 12 in. of the enclosure as required by Sec. 230.51(A).
