Changing conduit sizes

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jl233

New member
Is it legal to change conduit size in the middle of a conduit run with a coupling and reducer or adapter, and not use a box or conduit body?
 

ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
As long as the installation remains accessible after installation. In other words, it is not buried or concealed behind walls or partitions. 300.15(f)
 

don_resqcapt19

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Staff member
Location
Illinois
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retired electrician
Ike,
I don't see hot 300.15 applies to this application. This is just a change in size of the raceway, not a "conductor splice point, outlet point, switch point, junction point, termination point, or pull point".
Don
 

ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
don_resqcapt19 said:
Ike,
I don't see hot 300.15 applies to this application. This is just a change in size of the raceway, not a "conductor splice point, outlet point, switch point, junction point, termination point, or pull point".
Don
I stand corrected. But it seems to me (personal opinion I guess) that it is a bad idea to reduce a conduit in the middle of a run where it is concealed.

Although the point at which the two differently sized raceways meet might arguably be considered a junction point.

http://www.answers.com/topic/junction?cat=technology
 
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celtic

Senior Member
Location
NJ
I had read...or heard somewhere/from someone...that reducing a conduit mid-stream was a violation.

I have some foggy recollection of seeing a graphic someplace that illustrated this phenomenom with supporting NEC reference...

...but that's all I got today.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
ike5547 said:
But it seems to me (personal opinion I guess) that it is a bad idea to reduce a conduit in the middle of a run where it is concealed.

I agree, bad idea but not a code violation.

It happens that the bell end of 3/4" PVC conduit fits perfectly in a 1" PVC coupling. I have had to take advantage of this when I ran out of 3/4" and the cement was on the way.

Although the point at which the two differently sized raceways meet might arguably be considered a junction point.

I disagree that you could argue that using NEC common terms.

And if you did that would also mean every coupling is a junction point and would need to be accessible.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Seems to me I've seen reducing bushings made expressly for this purpose, but I can't find anything online about them.

But gimme time...
 

Dennis Alwon

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Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
480sparky said:
Seems to me I've seen reducing bushings made expressly for this purpose, but I can't find anything online about them.

But gimme time...

Here is one but not the style I have used. The ones I have used fit entirely inside the coupling.

47b7cf36b3127cceb09fb50d954b00000020100UaNmbRs1Ys
 

elechank

Member
Location
lake villa
Changing conduit size with the use of adapters, fittings etc is not legal since all the adapters, if you can find them would not be listed as an assembly. Didn't the adapter fitting that went from 1/2" emt to 3/8 greenfield lose it's UL listing because it's a code violation to go from a larger to smaller raceway size?

Hank
 
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