Raceway to metal box- is this allowable?
SHarding
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Saw this today in San Francisco and wonder if it’s a code violation.
Old Victorian, raceway everywhere. But instead of boxes jutting out into the room, they used regular recessed metal boxes. So the wires ran in raceway around the room, then turned up toward the receptacle with a flat elbow, then turned IN to the wall with an outside elbow. The wires then ran up into the box through a bottom knockout.
Seems like a nice alternative when a client doesn’t want to chop up the walls. Thanks for any help on this.
Edited 4/17/2006 9:22 pm ET by SHarding
Replies
It is a real problem the race cars can't make the tight turns in the elbows. That is why the raceways all have those nice some oval turns.
What kind of raceway are you talking abut?
Even electrical there are all kinds.
I am guessing that you are talking about surface mounted raceway, AKA "wiremold", but I am not sure.
Doesn't matter. As long as the conduit itself is code compliant, there is no legal reason it can't go back into the wall, and out and back in again as many times as they wish. Romex doesn't get dizzy like racecar drivers...
DG/Builder
This is Wiremold surface mounted raceway. My understanding is that due to the tight turns, NM cable cannot be run in Wiremold, so you've got 3 or 4 12 gauge wires inside the raceway. One possible issue that comes to mind is the gap between the Wiremold elbow that goes into the wall and the metal box itself. I'm guessing that the wires come out of the elbow inside the wall and before they enter the box they're "unprotected"- just the wires themselves without sheathing or anything. So I suppose my next question is, if the wires can be run in raceway like this, are the unprotected wires a concern? Would it make any sense to add a piece of EMT so the wires go straight from the Wiremold elbow into the EMT and then into the box without exposure? Thanks for the feedback.
The crux of the problem is the transition between the proprietary WireMold hardware and the generic EMT/boxes. If it's just bare ends near each other, I'd think it wouldn't pass. Too much danger to the insulation. If it's done using a fitting that WireMold designed for the purpose, that should be fine.
-- J.S.
Thanks for the reply, John. A plastic fitting that snaps into the knockout was used. So the wires go into the wall, exit the raceway, and hang free for about 1/2" before they enter the plastic fitting. There's a plastic fitting at the end of the raceway also that prevents the wires from rubbing against the metal edge. I was told it passed inspection, but who knows if this is true.
It may have passed inspection, but it should have failed, IMO. The conductors are unprotected at the gap. Maybe ask to see the inspection card?Bill
Hi Bill,Good idea, but I don't know the person well enough to ask more about the inspection. I'm going to head over to the building dept. and see what they say about this as it's a method I may use in future projects.Thanks,Steve
I'd fail this too, if I was the AHJ. IMHO the WireMold J-boxes can be gotten in a pretty shallow depth. Since the WireMold raceway is there anyway, I don't think the surface-mount J-boxes detract much from the appearance. 'probably looks better than having the raceway just sit "unconnected" on the wall underneath conventional flush-mount boxes.
I appreciate the feedback, Barry. This raceway was run on top of the baseboard- just a plain 1x6 or something- and it was painted to match so it really did not "announce its presence" like surface mount usually does. In certain situations, the recessed boxes seem like they may be a good option. Steve