A.m I crazy or practical?

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mudcat555

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Mentor, Ohio (25 miles east of Cleveland)
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Retired Electrician IBEW Local 38
More and more I am seeing panduit plastic gutters used in basements to contain homeruns back to the panel. The panduit trough comes in 4 foot sections and is very expensive for what it is. Would it make any sense to use a residential rain gutter in place of the panduit trough? If supported properly it would serve the same purpose and be alot cheaper and save alot of drilling.
 
Although it may be functionally identical to the Panduit I don't see how it would be code compliant to support and secure the NM cables like a listed product would.
 
I am thinking that I would make more profit as the job price would stay the same but I would be done alot sooner considering all the holes I wouldn't have to drill through the joists above. Many homeruns -many holes to drill.
 
Even though there are listed products for this purpose, I would red tag their use if there are more than four NM cables in the Panduit or similar product. 310.15(C)(1) in the 2020 code.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Even though there are listed products for this purpose, I would red tag their use if there are more than four NM cables in the Panduit or similar product. 310.15(C)(1) in the 2020 code.
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If it's a product listed as a non-metallic wireway, then 378.22 certainly says that you apply 310.15(C) based on the total number of cables inside.

I looked up one of these products, Arlington's T205. Its listing is under UL category DWMU, "Conduit and Cable Hardware," which covers straps and such.

Arlington | T205 Product Information

Arlington's CABLE WAY. Cable runway support system for either power or low voltage cable in new construction or retrofit. Non Metallic. Rated for maximum load of 6lbs per linear foot of runway. Comes in 5ft lengths.
www.aifittings.com www.aifittings.com

So for something like that, how about grouping the cables into bundles of at most 9 CCCs, and then securing the bundles so they maintain spacing? I would think that would be fine ignoring the T205, and I don't see how the T205 would change that analysis.

Are any of these products listed as cable trays? I haven't checked Article 392 to see if that would be allowed and what the implications would be in that case.

Cheers, Wayne
 
I guess the vote is in. I'm crazy. Actually the ceiling in this case is not going to be drywalled so I can't be below the joists when running perpendicular to the joists unless its protected. It was just an idea. A bad idea. Thanx guys for the code references. The forum always comes thru.
 
mudcat555 said:
I guess the vote is in. I'm crazy. Actually the ceiling in this case is not going to be drywalled so I can't be below the joists when running perpendicular to the joists unless its protected. It was just an idea. A bad idea. Thanx guys for the code references. The forum always comes thru.
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Look into the arlington product that's like this it's allowed bellow joists
 
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