Box make up

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jparrie

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I have an inspector complaining about my box make up, I would like a second, third fouth, etc opinion.

He wants no more than a quarter inch of sheathing left on the romex after the cable enters the box. Most of mine have about an inch of sheathing. I can't believe that he is calling me on this. I understand the concept of not wanting a stuffed overheating box, but they are all within correct box fill calcs, just a tad more sheathing on the cable than he likes.

Is this an actual code issue? If so, please reference the section.

Thanks
 

Igor

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The NEC requires not less than 1/4" of sheathing inside the box (314.17 (C), 2005 edition.) There is no maximum length of sheathing stated, however if you leave too much sheathing you may not have the 6" minimum length of free conductor required by 300.14, which is measured from the end of the sheathing. 110.12 requires that electrical installations be done in a "neat and workmanlike manner," which leaves an awful lot of room for interpretation by the inspector.
 
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Chris75

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I have an inspector complaining about my box make up, I would like a second, third fouth, etc opinion.

He wants no more than a quarter inch of sheathing left on the romex after the cable enters the box. Most of mine have about an inch of sheathing. I can't believe that he is calling me on this. I understand the concept of not wanting a stuffed overheating box, but they are all within correct box fill calcs, just a tad more sheathing on the cable than he likes.

Is this an actual code issue? If so, please reference the section.

Thanks


What a goof... ask for the violation and move on....
 

Billy_Bob

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1/4" instead of 1" is being too picky in my opinion!

But some of these guys are on a power trip or whatever.

He *is* KING so far as approving your work though, so just say "Yes Sir, I'll get that done." "Thank you for coming over today." (Etc.) Then curse him after he leaves. (Be sure he is still not in driveway on cellphone or whatever.)

I imagine this would be quite a pain to try cut these down to size after they are already in the box. Maybe you can pull them out of the box a little instead of cutting the jackets?
 

Chris75

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1/4" instead of 1" is being too picky in my opinion!

But some of these guys are on a power trip or whatever.

He *is* KING so far as approving your work though, so just say "Yes Sir, I'll get that done." "Thank you for coming over today." (Etc.) Then curse him after he leaves. (Be sure he is still not in driveway on cellphone or whatever.)

I imagine this would be quite a pain to try cut these down to size after they are already in the box. Maybe you can pull them out of the box a little instead of cutting the jackets?

why not just do nothing and ask for the code violation otherwise we are just going to have to call your boss.
 

hj

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violation

"Why not just do nothing and ask for the code violation"? Is that supposed to be the solution? Is the inspector going to forget about it once he cites it as a violation? Must have VERY lenient inspectors. Here, that would create a red flag and then EVERYTHING in the building would be gone over with a fine toothed comb. One contractor upset the inspector and he stopped writing once he got to the third page of "violations". When the contractor went ballistic on him, he packed up and told him that he would have to deal with the chief inspector from then on. Guess how that job went after that.
 

Chris75

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"Why not just do nothing and ask for the code violation"? Is that supposed to be the solution? Is the inspector going to forget about it once he cites it as a violation? Must have VERY lenient inspectors. Here, that would create a red flag and then EVERYTHING in the building would be gone over with a fine toothed comb. One contractor upset the inspector and he stopped writing once he got to the third page of "violations". When the contractor went ballistic on him, he packed up and told him that he would have to deal with the chief inspector from then on. Guess how that job went after that.

I dont get it? so its okay to commit violations? I'm talking about an inspector trying to enfore something that does not exist, yout talking about actual violations... So if the inspector TOLD you he wanted something done that was not code, but cost you a lot of money, would you still oblige? I go one way with this, recite it or dont cite it... thats it... I've shot down more than one inspector... I do not give in.
 
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