Extension Cords

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Brandon Loyd

Senior Member
Does the code say anything about using extension cords, hard wired into a panel, for permanent use? I've always been told this wasn't code legal, but I cant find any reference of it in the code book.
 
Brandon Loyd said:
Does the code say anything about using extension cords, hard wired into a panel, for permanent use? I've always been told this wasn't code legal, but I cant find any reference of it in the code book.
Click to expand...
Do you really mean flexible cords?
Article 400.8 pretty much prohibits the generic extension cord from being used in place of permanent wiring. However, there are 'legal' multi-conductor cords, like tray cable, and locations, like carnivals, which are not subject to 400.8.
 
I rewired a restaurant years ago for the new owner, the previous owner was a local electrical contractor and taught electrical at the local VoTech school, he had run 150' of 10-4 SO cord to feed a nema 1 60 amp loadcenter outside, (he had nailed a board above it to make it a 3R enclosure:roll:) which in turn feed the refrigeration compressors with NM cable. It had been this way for a while, the outer sheath of the NM cable was very deteriorated and falling off. Got a good long extension cord out of it after I was done!:)
 
You're not allowed to use a flexible cord in place of permanent wiring - but you are allowed to use flexible cord where flexibility is required. It can come down to the specific application.

For example, I created an outlet at my exterior, surface mounted panel by simply extending a short length of cord out the bottom of the panel with a cord cap on it. Even today, such an install might be allowed (that's another discussion), but it does illustrate the point. Simply using SO cord in place of Romex is not allowed.
 
iwire said:
I would fail it based on 400.8(1).
Click to expand...

I agree with that.
Maybe he considers it a pendant.:happyyes:


The mentioned carnivals are temporary installations and subject to 590. (If someone was to inspect them to NEC compliance anyway)

Similar amusements at a permant park are not connected with flexible cords. They may have some cords where Art 400 allows them.
 
"Pendant" it is .... and the circumstances might require flexibility. For example, if that's where you plug in the car's block heater, and you want to allow for it to 'unplug' if you forget to do it yourself when you leave :)

Still, that's not the OP's question. Can we say that never, under any circumstances, is it allowed to connect SO cord to a panel? I don't think so. That's his question.

I recall seeing pictures of a chicken house, where all the wiring was in the form of cables to the panel; operations of the house required the regular movement of the partitions that supported the lights, receptacles, etc. If you haven't actually worked in agriculture, you might not be able to imagine the setting - suffice it to say that the birds don't just sit in boxes and lay eggs. My point is that there might be a circumstance where running a cord to a panel makes perfect sense.
 
iwire said:
I would fail it based on 400.8(1).
Click to expand...
So is 400.7 mandatory to be used in the manner specified in the NEC. In specify #?s 1-10 where (B) also plays a roll? In other words, you can?t do what renosteinke done. Which was terminate a cord directly to a breaker of a panel ?
 
You don't see the answer because you're not asking the right question.

The question is not "Does the NEC allow ...." The right question is: "Why are we using extension cords?"

If it's a circumstance where you're allowed to use the flexible cord, you can use that cord any way you like.
 
kwired said:
I agree with that.
Maybe he considers it a pendant.:happyyes:


The mentioned carnivals are temporary installations and subject to 590. (If someone was to inspect them to NEC compliance anyway)

Similar amusements at a permant park are not connected with flexible cords. They may have some cords where Art 400 allows them.
Click to expand...

But even then, they can't just use any old cord they have to follow 400.3.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top