Water Heater, Is There A Better Way

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roger

roger

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Fl
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Retired Electrician
GMc said:
Sorry Roger but I have to ask, why is it ok to wire the hot water heater shown in the picture with romex flopping in the breeze, possibly laying against the hot water pipe, but you can't staple romex to the bottom of the joist in the same space? Just don't make sense to me. Thanks
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GMc, if you go back and re-read my post you will see where I said the absence of securing of the cable was a problem.

Actually in NC we can staple any size cable to the bottom of the joist, 334.15(C) was one of the NC amendments to the 2008 NEC.

http://www.ncbeec.org/modules/news/visit.php?fileid=16


Roger
 
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G

GMc

Senior Member
roger said:
GMc, if you go back and re-read my post you will see where I said the absence of securing of the cable was a problem.
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I know you said about securing. I was just trying to make sense 2 different installs. For example; lets say you have that heater as shown in the picture and it's wired just like shown but instead it's all secured like it should be. Then you have a circuit for a receptacle that happens to be ran through the same crawl space and it's stappled to the bottom of the floor joist nice and neat.

I would think that the romex running up the wall and over to the tank would be more subject to physical damage than the romex running along the bottom of the floor joist. What would you as an inspector gig me on? For this install example we are in MI and not NC. I know you don't want to assume what and inspector in MI would do but I'm just trying to explain my confusion.

roger said:
Actually in NC we can staple any size cable to the bottom of the joist, 334.15(C) was one of the NC amendments to the 2008 NEC.

http://www.ncbeec.org/modules/news/visit.php?fileid=16


Roger
Click to expand...

Now this would make more sense to me and also be more consistent.

Thanks
 
W

wwhitney

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Location
Berkeley, CA
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scwirenut said:
the reason why you cant staple across the joists in a basement is because people will try to hang things from the cable for storage....rakes, crowbars, ect....
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So from that point of view, why was there a change in 2008 to extend the prohibition to crawl spaces?

Cheers, Wayne
 
augie47

augie47

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Tennessee
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State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
Here is one substantiation concerning crawl spaces and Art 334.:
Substantiation: ​
​
​
​
The code differentiates between an unfinished basement in
different areas of the code, such as in 210.8(A). This code section, however,
does not give any direction as to the requirements for a crawl space. Because
the same dangers exist in both unfinished basements and crawl spaces, this​

subsection should be changed to include both locations.

submitter: Mike Holt Enterprises


 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
electricmanscott said:
Cables run through the joists provide far better support. :)
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I think protection was what the panel was after. I guess that extra 3" is good for something, but seems kind of silly to me.

One could argue that they could provide adequate support at the bottom of the joist.
 
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