All references are based on the 2023 edition of the NEC.
Lousy Use of Lamp Cord
These two photos show what I found when the maintenance manager for an apartment building called me to check out some curious wiring he found inside one of the apartments. The tenant had apparently taken matters into his own hands when installing a chandelier over his dining table. The tenant bought some 2-wire, flexible lamp cord at the local hardware store and used that for wiring the chandelier. He anchored the flexible cord and the chandelier directly to the concrete ceiling using anchors. If you look closely, you can see that the anchors are installed between the two conductors of the cord and are pinching the cord to the ceiling. Amazingly, it never short-circuited. The other end of the cord was snaked down a sheetrock wall and connected to a receptacle using a cord cap. Using a flexible cord in this manner violates several list items of Sec. 400.12, including (1), (4), and (5). The other huge problem is the lack of bonding and grounding of this luminaire. Section 410.42 requires exposed conductive surfaces of this luminaire to be connected to an equipment grounding conductor.
A String of Violations
I spotted this string of lights at a seafood restaurant located at a local marina. The lights were installed to provide some additional lighting for an outside dining area. Unfortunately, whoever installed this string of lights secured it to raceways, cables, electrical boxes, and whatever other electrical equipment happened to be nearby. As specified in Sec. 300.11(C), raceways can only be used to support cables, raceways, and other equipment in accordance with any of the following three conditions: (1) when the raceway is identified as a means of support; (2) when the raceway contains power conductors and is used to support Class 2 or Class 3 control circuit cables or conductors; or (3) where the raceway is supporting boxes or conduit bodies as specified in Sec. 314.23 or is supporting luminaires as specified in Sec. 410.36(E). None of those conditions applies here. Additionally, Sec. 352.12(B) prohibits using PVC conduit to support luminaires or equipment other than conduit bodies. For temporary installations, Art. 590 sometimes modifies requirements for permanent wiring. Section 590.4(J) provides general support requirements for flexible cords and cables but does not specifically lift the restrictions in Sec. 300.11(C) for using raceways as a means of support.
