House wired all in UF cable, is it legal?

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quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
Not to be disagreeable for no reason but I've never found UF so difficult that I wouldn't trade the cost of a house of NM for the labor of stripping it. Don't have any special tool for it. I usually use razor knife. Stab into between one of the insulated conductors and the bare EGC. Strip to the end makeing sure to stay closer to the EGC than the insulated conductor to ensure I don't nick the isulation. After that the two insulated coductor peel innward pretty easy.

Guess it takes about 50% longer than NM

JMO

When I was just a calf I used to let homeowners do some of the work themselves. I layed out a basement apt and let the homeowner rope it. I came back after sheetrock and found 12-3 uf roughed in all the boxes. I had badly torn a knee ligament skiing the week before and could barely walk my right foot was pointing totally backwards after a bad fall. It was torture to device and I never forgot it.
 

hurk27

Senior Member
I offered to wire a pavilion for a Moose lodge once, they said all the conduit would be supplied by a local steel mill, and the rest they would provide.
I showed up on a Saturday to begin, and found a stack of 3/4" X 5' RMC nicely threaded on both ends.

I told them no way was I going to use RMC, after walking off, they called me a week later, and they had EMT lol
 
I was asked by an excavator if I could finish his house. I got there and almost the whole house was wired in pieces of scrap wire he picked up from various jobs. From one outlet to another would be romex #10, next one #12 uf, the next one #14 romex. It was crazy. I walked off job wanted nothing to do with it (HACKER)
 

ericsherman37

Senior Member
Location
Oregon Coast
To strip UF with no (or acceptably minimal :smile:) conductor damage, I pull it a couple inches too long, then just slice down the middle only for the last inch or two. That's just enough to expose the bare ground conductor. I grab onto that wire with lineman's and use it is a rip cord kind of thing to slice the jacket the rest of the way. Then the hot and neut just kind of fall out.

Otherwise, though, I just run PVC and individual conductors, like you're supposed to.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
........... Then the hot and neut just kind of fall out.

That works if the UF you install is more like NM when it comes to the sheath..... one sheath encircling all three conductors. (Top) The stuff I get has the sheath 'embedded' between the conductors. (bottom) I can rip the ground out, just like you do, but I still have the hot/neutral wrapped in sheathing.

UFstyles.jpg


Otherwise, though, I just run PVC and individual conductors, like you're supposed to.

You wire houses with PVC and THHN? :grin:
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
I get a call from a guy who bought a bank owned house. The previous owner did ALOT of illegal work......electrical,plumbing you name it.
He had an illegal apt in the basement and the building dept. made him take it down. He complied. He wanted to build two bedrms down there. He framed a few walls. I went in add 8 boxes and 4 smokes. I pulled a permit for that work (8 boxes and 4 smokes exactly)!
Well the whole house was wires in UF cable! (not my work). I spoke with the inspector and we both laughed about it for a while. He went down and looked at it and laughed some more. He thinks it's a violation. "Ive never seem anything like this before." he said. "I have to look into this."
The only thing I can think of is : Is there toxic smell or gas if wire burns in a fire?
Any thoughts?
P.S.
I left my code book on another job I wont be on til next week.

It's legal and if i was the inspector i would see this uf as a big red flag. There will be all kinds of violations if he was stupid enough to run uf.
 

GeorgeB

ElectroHydraulics engineer (retired)
Location
Greenville SC
Occupation
Retired
Well the whole house was wires in UF cable!
My mother owned a "condominium" at Wrightsville Beach NC rebuilt as half of an old cottage (strange building codes there). It, and the 2 or 3 homes adjacent I looked at during their construction, were done with UF. I chatted with the electrician who said the extremely high humidity made it advisable and he did them that way.

There was a US corrosion research site there for many years ... may still be there. I was told that the combination of temperatures, humidity, and salt spray made it the single most corrosive environment in the US. I'm not stating that as fact, rather as what I was told.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Don't know never tired them. I don't install much UF cable so I will just keep stripping it the old fashioned way with a razor knife.:)

Chris

Same here. I used to have a GB stripper designed for UF that worked great. One of the few GB tools I've ever been thrilled with. But alas, after I lost it, I found out they don't make them any more.
Angry_emoticon_by_smiekie.gif
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Worthless on UF. Works great on NM, though.


I managed to get them to work once on a piece on UF and thought,Great I've found the answer!! Alas, I never was able to duplicate the feat!:mad:

I don't understand why. I get perfectly repeatable strips with them. I is important to keep the body of the strippers perpendicular to the cable, but it works like a charm for me.

I was thinking of making a video clip of me using them, but it would look just like someone using them on NM, so no need. Like I said, they work great for me.
 
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