circuits in 3/4"emt

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suemarkp

Senior Member
Location
Kent, WA
Occupation
Retired Engineer
My favorite test question is:

How many #10 THHN stranded conductors can be pulled into a 1" PVC conduit run 30" underground between two buildings?

A. 10
B. 12
C. 15
D. 17

Isn't the correct answer 0 -- can't use THHN in wet areas. But that isn't one of the choices...
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I don't like hearing about all the boneheaded test questions that get brought up on this forum.

If I were taking a test today and had to answer a question that had no correct answer as one of the choices or had a situation that was impossible to be correct because of other conditions outside of the scope of the intent of the question I would write my own answer explaining the situation.

If they want to count it wrong there had better be a way to contest the question, If not, at least I got them to think about what they did wrong with the wording of the question.

All that said it is not fair to the people taking these tests. I can say what I said before because of my experience, but back when I took my tests I probably would have had a different opinion and may not have even caught the mistake in the question.

People writing the questions need to have enough experience to not make them kind of mistakes very easily. Test questions do not need to be hard, all the test is about is to see if the applicant is competent enough to everyday things, knows how to find things in the code book, knows how to use certain parts of the code for common calculations, knows basic electricity concepts, and knows about the laws in the jursidiction where taking the test.
 

sameguy

Senior Member
Location
New York
Occupation
Master Elec./JW retired
That is why I always answer: "Per the body having jurisdiction" and hope I can get 50% for knowing they exist.
 

suemarkp

Senior Member
Location
Kent, WA
Occupation
Retired Engineer
People writing the questions need to have enough experience to not make them kind of mistakes very easily. Test questions do not need to be hard, all the test is about is to see if the applicant is competent enough to everyday things, knows how to find things in the code book, knows how to use certain parts of the code for common calculations, knows basic electricity concepts, and knows about the laws in the jursidiction where taking the test.

I agree. I hate all those tricky test people like to do. Other problems with the posted question is it doesn't state whether the conduit is sch 40 or sch 80. The fact that it is underground or X feet long should have no relevance. I wish they'd just ask a simple question to make sure you know how to find the answer to basic things you need to know. Forget all these tricky things -- just come out an ask them direct as a yes/no question such as:

Can THHN be used in a wet area?
Is an underground conduit considered a wet area?
Can all feeders at a dwelling use 310.15(B)(6) -- oh never mind with that one!
 
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