mobile home feeder replacement

Status
Not open for further replies.

elecmen

Senior Member
Location
NH
Occupation
Electrician
I have to replace a feeder to a mobile home. The old feeder was direct buried and emerges from the ground unprotected to the point of entrance. The problem is there are other cables in the same conduit that drops from the home panel. What is my responsibility here? I am going to run the new feeder in conduit to this conduit. Do I have to remove these wires from this conduit? Any input please. What would you do? Thanks
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
I think you're overthinking this.

Naturally, the extra romexes someone dropped out of that panel via the conduit stub need removed. You need to add some pipe on that stub to protect and contain only your feeder. It will be super-easy to fish those cables you yanked out of that conduit back up to the panel, but inside the wall this time.
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
If its a mobile then this is only a sub panel. No violation unless conduit fill is problem.
Yeah, but he's going to have a real hard time getting that pipe into the earth, and having the romexes exit out of the side of it somehow compliantly. Pull those cables out and fish them the couple feet back up to the panel and do it right.
 

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
I have to replace a feeder to a mobile home. The old feeder was direct buried and emerges from the ground unprotected to the point of entrance. The problem is there are other cables in the same conduit that drops from the home panel. What is my responsibility here? I am going to run the new feeder in conduit to this conduit. Do I have to remove these wires from this conduit? Any input please. What would you do? Thanks
The project should comply with the code. The new feeder should be buried at the proper depth and be protected by conduit where it emerges from the ground. The cables (if "Romex") would not be permitted under the mobile home since they would be listed for dry location/interior only, unless of course they are UF. But still they would not be in the feeder conduit unless there was a J box in the run that would provide a code-compliant access.
 

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
Wrong! No different than romex in a crawl space.

If a crawl space, basement, cellar, or other similar space is exposed or subject to excessive moisture or dampness, then NM-B should not be used as a wiring method. [Refer to 334.12(B)(4)]
I realize full well that this topic is "subjective", yet I always join the ranks on the side that recognizes the heightened risk associated with NM improperly exposed to excessive moisture or dampness.
When a space is subject to freezing and thawing, such as the underbelly of a mobile home in my part of the world, adverse exposure to water from condensation is enough to substantially contribute to corrosion (due to contaminants, minerals and particles in the water) of the equipment grounding conductor within the NM-B cable. The cable need only be exposed at its termination points such as a heating tape rececptacle box under the mobile home, to be subject to corrosion. Exposure to water in the form of moisture can cause corrosion and insulation damage. Devices, such as receptacles can be adversely affected by contaminants and sediments contained in water moisture.
The more sophisicated an understanding of the damaging properties of corroded, rusting and poor non-thorough connections, the more attention paid to safety.
The underside of a mobile home is built outside of the building envelope, which typically means that the space is considered outdoors and the wiring method should be other than NM-B, such as NMC.
 

elohr46

Senior Member
Location
square one
I have to replace a feeder to a mobile home. The old feeder was direct buried and emerges from the ground unprotected to the point of entrance. The problem is there are other cables in the same conduit that drops from the home panel. What is my responsibility here? I am going to run the new feeder in conduit to this conduit. Do I have to remove these wires from this conduit? Any input please. What would you do? Thanks

In that situation I might consider putting a JB on the end of the sleeve if your conduit fill is OK.
 

elecmen

Senior Member
Location
NH
Occupation
Electrician
Thanks for all the replies. The problem is I only need to replace the feeder and to do it by code I have to remove these romexes and then re-install them.These are not code compliant installations they are laying on the ground etc. How can I just snake them back to the panel if they are not code compliant? Do I have to bring these circuits up to code now? Its a catch 22.
 

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
Thanks for all the replies. The problem is I only need to replace the feeder and to do it by code I have to remove these romexes and then re-install them.These are not code compliant installations they are laying on the ground etc. How can I just snake them back to the panel if they are not code compliant? Do I have to bring these circuits up to code now? Its a catch 22.

If one removes existing wiring that was installed in violation of the code when it was installed, and subsequently re-installs it in violation of the code, one has violated the code.

Making the replacement feeder installation comply may be the initial objective, but if one disconnects, unhooks, dislocates, then re-hooks, re-connects and/or re-locates wiring in a manner that is inconsistent with the code requirements, one has violated the code.

I don't see it as a catch-22, it's work made a part of the project by the particulars of the task at hand. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top