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 2020 NEC.
Hint: Unfinished basement botchery
Tell Them What They've Won…
Using the 2020 NEC, correctly identify the Code violation(s) in this month's photo — in 200 words or less — and you could win an Arlington Industries SL1B18 single-gang slider bar kit, which includes an 18" Slider Bar and plastic box for mounting between studs with non-standard spacing. E-mail your response, including your name and mailing address, to [email protected], and Russ will select three winners (excluding manufacturers and prior winners) at random from the correct submissions. Note that submissions without an address will not be eligible to win.
August Winners
Our winners this month were: Corey Shalanski, a solar engineer from Atlanta, Ga.; A.J. Davis, an electrical inspector for the Village of North Palm Beach, Fla.; and Richard Simak, an EC&M reader from Bayville, N.Y. They all knew that the door on this disconnect does not open quite far enough.
Section 110.26(A)(2) requires the workspace to provide at least 30 in. of width and enough space to allow equipment doors or hinged panels to open at least 90°. This one comes up well short of that requirement. Another problem is the use of white wires as ungrounded conductors without being re-identified with paint, marking tape, or some other effective means to indicate their use as ungrounded conductors as required by Sec. 200.7(C)(1). The missing knockout seal on the bottom left of the enclosure is yet another violation and does not comply with Sec. 110.12(A). The tight bending radius of the flexible metal conduit coming out of the top of the panelboard enclosure was also cited as possibly not complying with the bending requirements found in Sec. 348.24.
