Untitled Document

We want to make sure we're providing you with the content you need to better manage your business or enhance your technical skills. E-mail us and let us know what you want to see in future issues of this e-newsletter. We will do our best to address your request in a future issue of CodeWatch.

Subscriptions

To sign up for your free subscription, click here: Subscribe

To unsubscribe from this newsletter click here: Unsubscribe

To get this newsletter in a different format (Text, AOL or HTML), or to change your e-mail address, please visit your profile page to change your delivery preferences.

Back Issues

Missed an issue? Visit the CodeWatch archive on EC&M's Web site.

Tell a friend about CodeWatch

Do you know of someone who'd like to receive CodeWatch? Visit the subscriber site, enter their e-mail address and spread the wealth!

Advertising

To find out how to advertise in this newsletter, e-mail Bob MacArthur or call him at (913) 967-1837.

The designations "National Electrical Code" and "NEC" refer to the National Electrical Code®, which is a registered trademark of the National Fire Protection Association.

Nightmare Installations
Lip Service
Several years ago my children told me their lips would tingle as they drank from the outside water hose bib. I took a drink from it but didn't feel a thing. For at least six months they continued to complain about it and I continued to feel nothing, until one day when I was filling our outside wood boiler with water while repairing the draft fan on the boiler. After shutting off the power I started to work on the fan, but I felt a tingle whenever I touched the metal jacket of the boiler. So I got my meter and put one probe in the ground and the other on the boiler jacket. It read 50V. After some research I found the wire feeding the well pump had shorted against the metal well casing. The pump is 150 feet down in the ground, and the electricity was energizing the water traveling through the pump up the plastic pipe and into the copper water pipe. The pump must have been running when my children were drinking from the hose bib, but by the time I would take a drink the pump had shut off. It wasn't tripping the circuit breaker but was drawing about 17A. There was no ground in this circuit so I changed it out and grounded the casing of the well.
Carl Hibbard
Syracuse, N.Y.

ADVERTISEMENT

Snap Up Some Fun With Fluke
Join FlukePlus, the industry's first on-line program for professional test tool users

www.fluke.com/plus5

Superglue to the Rescue
A few years ago when I arrived at a residence to do some troubleshooting, the woman of the house offered an interesting assessment of the problem. "I'm not crazy," she said, "but I think we have poltergeists in the house." She assured me that all of the wiring in the house worked when they moved in, but strange things had started to happen afterward. Some lights and plugs would work sporadically, and then they finally quit altogether. I explained to her that rather than living in a haunted house, I felt she was experiencing something that could be more easily explained. I ended up at the electrical panel and decided to pull on each individual wire where they came into the electrical panel through a 2-inch nipple in the back of the panel. What happened next was not totally unexpected. When I pulled on one of the wires it came loose. When I looked at the end of the wire I could tell that it had been cut and it had what appeared to be some type of glue on it. Two of the wires had been cut and glued back together.
Steve Bible
Austin, Texas

Send your 200-word story to us and it may appear in a future issue of CodeWatch. Authors of stories chosen for publication will receive $25.

ADVERTISEMENT

New 2004 Master Equipment Catalog
Harger introduces its NEW 2004 Master Equipment Catalog, which represents a compilation of products to provide total system protection for any facility or site. It includes grounding and bonding products, Ultraweld exothermic welding products, lightning protection equipment, ground testing equipment, surge suppression, telecommunications site equipment and railroad signal & power bond products. This catalog is available in a Three Ring Binder or CD-ROM. Ph: (800) 842-7437. Website: www.harger.com.

Applications Corner
Code Basics
By Mike Holt
The requirements of Art. 702 apply to the installation and operation of standby systems. This includes permanently installed systems and those that are arranged for temporary connection such as portable generators, which are commonly used at telecommunications facilities, water and waste-water pump stations, and homes and offices.

Whenever you connect a fixed or portable standby generator to a premises wiring system, you must do so through a transfer switch. In addition, as per 702.10(A), Separately Derived System, if the transfer switch for a portable generator switches the grounded (neutral) conductor then the portable generator must be grounded in accordance with 250.30. This means that the neutral of the portable generator must be bonded to the generator case and grounding electrode in accordance with 250.30.

If the transfer switch for a portable generator does not switch the grounded (neutral) conductor [702.10(B), Nonseparately Derived System], then the equipment-grounding conductor must be bonded to the system-grounding electrode. This means that the grounded (neutral) conductors of the generator must not be bonded to the case [250.142]. However, the case must be bonded to a system-grounding electrode. The grounding electrode system for the building can be used for this purpose.

ADVERTISEMENT

UL Listed ETP Raintight Fittings Have Inspection Aid
ETP UL Listed Raintight EMT steel couplings and connectors feature exclusive InspectoRidge External Inspection Aid for faster identification by inspectors. Formed on the outside of the coupling or connector, it allows an inspector to visually determine that the fitting is raintight. Offered in 1/2-inch to 1-inch trade sizes, the fittings have an internal sealing ring and gasket, along with a KO sealing ring. Choose from insulated or non-insulated throat. The rugged steel construction has a zinc electroplate finish. The fittings install with standard electrician tools and methods. For information, call 800-621-1506. E-mail: literature@egseg.com

Code Challenge

What's Wrong Here?
By Joe Tedesco
How does this installation violate NEC requirements?

Hint: The color of this conduit looks very similar to the clay pots in my garden.

Code Q&A
By Mike Holt
Q. Is GFCI protection required for a hard-wired spa?
See the answer.

Code Quiz
By Steven Owen
According to 314.28 of the 2002 NEC, what are the minimum dimensions required for a metal junction box that has the following raceways (conduits) connected to it? The junction box has two 4-inch EMT raceways connected directly across from one another on opposite walls. Each raceway contains three 250 kcmil XHHW conductors. A 2-inch EMT raceway, which contains three 4/0 AWG XHHW conductors, is connected to the same wall as one of the 4-inch EMT raceways. In effect, one wall has a 4-inch and a 2-inch raceway. The opposite wall has only a 4-inch raceway. The wall at a right angle to the 4-inch and 2-inch raceways has a single 2-inch EMT raceway connected to it. The 4/0 AWG conductors are installed between the 2-inch raceways and are passing through the junction box. There's no raceway on the wall opposite the single 2-inch EMT raceway.

32 inches x 12 inches

32 inches x 32 inches

26 inches x 12 inches

34 inches x 12 inches

Visit EC&M's Web site for the answer and explanation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cool Electronic Cabinets
Prevent hot weather failures that can affect production. UL Listed Cabinet Coolers produce 20 degree Fahrenheit air from an ordinary supply of compressed air to cool electrical controls. Thermostat control minimizes air usage. Maintains the NEMA 4, 4X (stainless steel) and 12 rating of the enclosure. Web site offers detailed information, downloadable drawings and PDF literature. www.exair.com

Faces of the Code
Al Engler
Member, Code-Making Panel 14
No matter where he goes, Al Engler keeps seeing the same faces. After working on various standards that apply to hazardous locations over the years, he has found that his contemporaries are few and far between. "There just aren't a lot of people who deal with this extensively," he says. "But I guess it's good that you know you have people working on these standards who have a lot of experience."

Some of them have served with him on the International Society for Measurement and Control's (ISA) SP12 committee on electrical equipment in hazardous atmospheres. He sees some of them when attending IEC meetings, where he's the U.S technical advisor for flammable dust requirements. So given the limited number of experts in the field, it wasn't surprising that he ended up gaining a spot on the NEC Code-making panel devoted to hazardous locations when it went through what he calls a "political upheaval" in 1999. After ISA was reclassified as a manufacturer representative, a spot opened up and Engler went for it...sort of. "The ISA main committee decides who they want to represent them on the NEC," he says. "So they just drafted me."

Engler was introduced to the world of hazardous location specifications while working for the Rosemount division of Emerson Process Control. It was there that he first worked with Factory Mutual, a commercial property insurance provider, and got a taste of certifying equipment for a variety of hazardous areas around the world. From there he went to Applied Automation, where again he dealt with some of the same contacts at Factory Mutual, who eventually introduced him to ISA. And the rest is hazardous location history.

Since then he's moved on to EGS, where he works as the director of quality for the electrical construction materials division. He spends most of his time fielding customer complaints that range from "It doesn't work" to "The box has the wrong label." At the end of the day, though, he gets to go back to his other job with that hazardous location family he can't seem to get away from. "It's a lot of work," he says. "But it's worth it."

ADVERTISEMENT

Drives, Starters, and Contactors Direct!
Cerus supplies top quality contactors, starters, and variable frequency drives. Contactors are backed by industry first 5 year warranty. Variable speed drives from 1/2 to 300 Hp featuring Space Vector PWM for long motor life. Get all the facts.
See http://www.cerusind.com or call 1-800-962-3787 for a FREE catalog.

Speak Out
When to Say When
Al Engler says he sees a lot of the same people on the various standards panels he works on. Having an experienced group of veterans who can apply their expertise to several standards is reassuring, but it also raises the questions, How many standards-making bodies is too many for one person to serve on, and At what point does it go from working hard to help the industry to risking burnout and overextension? Visit EC&M's Web site to tell us.

Art. 90 introduces the NEC as an installation standard, and the majority of CodeWatch readers agree it should stay that way. More than two-thirds of you (68%) say that the Code can't be expected to set standards for the electrical safety of the various products that electrical workers may use from day to day.

ADVERTISEMENT

www.NECcode.com
The National Electrical Code Internet Connection, the No. 1 rated Code Web site in the world, offers the following FREE products:
Books, Code Quiz, DVDs, Graphics for PowerPoint, Newsletter, Online Training, Posters, Simulated Exams, Software, Video clips, and Videos
Visit www.NECcode.com and stay current with important industry issues.

Shows and Events
EC&M Code Seminars
Haven't signed up for one of EC&M's 2005 Code Change Conferences yet? There's still time. Download the registration form, and pick the closest seminar. Fill it out and fax it to (203) 929-5351. Registration for the second conference in Philadelphia on Nov. 9-10, is only open through this Friday, so act quick. And if you're planning on catching the Code caravan in Chicago on Nov. 15-16 or Orlando on Nov. 18-19, you better log on and sign up by Sept. 16. Moderated by Mike Holt and Fred Hartwell (Boston conference only), the two-day conferences will cover everything you need to know about the 2005 Code. All attendees will receive a copy of the 2005 NEC and EC&M's 2005 Code Change Book, written by Mike Holt.

You are subscribed to this newsletter as <*email*>

For questions concerning delivery of this newsletter, please contact our Customer Service Department at:
U.S. Toll Free: (866) 505-7173
International: (402) 505-7173
or custserv@newsletter.primediabusiness.com

Primedia Business Magazines & Media
9800 Metcalf Avenue
Overland Park, KS 66212

Copyright 2004, PRIMEDIA. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Primedia Business Magazines & Media Inc.