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: A cover calamity
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 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.
June Winners
Our three winners this month were Patrick Quirk, an electrical design engineer with Moore Consulting Engineers, LLC, in Shamong, N.J.; Robert Magsipoc, an EC&M reader from Fairfax, Va.; and Bill Nichols, a building inspections supervisor for Life Safety & Neighborhood Services in Manitowoc, Wisc.
This is yet another example of what happens to rigid PVC conduit installations when expansion fittings are not used. Ultimately, the forces of Mother Nature will impose their will on the PVC conduit, causing it to expand and contract over and over due to seasonal changes in temperature. When conduit runs expand between two securely mounted items, the conduit begins to bend and twist, which can, in turn, put extra stress on clips, couplings, and connectors leading to their eventual failure. That’s what happened here. The installers failed to use expansion fittings to compensate for the length change of conduit as required by Sec. 352.44. It also appears that the spacing for some of the conduit clips does not comply with the maximum 3-ft spacing requirements in Sec. 352.30(B). This will also contribute to the eventual failure of the conduit run.
