12/2 Romex simpull without an EGC

[qcroanoke]

Eons ago you could buy 12-2 plain and 10-3 plain. Probably 14-2 plain but I didn't see any.

 

[James L]

Eons ago you could buy 12-2 plain and 10-3 plain. Probably 14-2 plain but I didn't see any.

I was using plain NM when I first started.
That makes me eons old

 

[yanici]

Interesting thread. Many years back in the 1970s when I was a young journeyman, I wired a house that needed a spot light fixture hung in a tight spot up high. The wire was installed in such a way that it could never be fished in or gotten at from the attic, etc. Sure enough, when I went to hang the spotlight the white conductor was missing from the Romex. I won't tell you guuys what I did because you'd kick me off the Forum.

 

[Little Bill]

about 25 years ago I felt a strange lump inside a piece of NM and my curiosity got me to cut it open. There was a splice in the ground, just folded over and crimped together. Only time I've ever seen that

I've seen this strange lump in a roll that a fellow electrician had. It was a splice as well. Apparently this is common in the mfg process. Never heard of 25' of conductor missing though.

 

[roger]

Eons ago you could buy 12-2 plain and 10-3 plain. Probably 14-2 plain but I didn't see any.

I used a lot of 10/3 for dryers in the late 70's

 

[Little Bill]

Interesting thread. Many years back in the 1970s when I was a young journeyman, I wired a house that needed a spot light fixture hung in a tight spot up high. The wire was installed in such a way that it could never be fished in or gotten at from the attic, etc. Sure enough, when I went to hang the spotlight the white conductor was missing from the Romex. I won't tell you guuys what I did because you'd kick me off the Forum.

I won't ask for a reply, but if I were guessing, the EGC turned into a neutral somehow!

 

[James L]

I won't ask for a reply, but if I were guessing, the EGC turned into a neutral somehow!

Magic

 

[LarryFine]

I have seen welded joints in the insulated wires in rolls of NM with a 1/2" gap left in the insulation.

I can't help but wonder how many times that has been done and it has never been discovered.

 

[qcroanoke]

I won't ask for a reply, but if I were guessing, the EGC turned into a neutral somehow!

I've seen it used for a traveler....
(not by me)

 

[Smash]

This may have come up before but I don't remember it if it did. We are redoing our kitchen and about a month ago I bought a 50' roll of 12/2 Southwire Romex for extending a few circuits.
I fished down existing walls using about half the roll and today I was going to energize a drop for a temporary receptacle during the continuing construction process. Well, when I stripped the sheath, I found the EGC was missing so I went to the remainder of the roll and sure enough, no EGC.

I will be contacting Southwire before I do anything else with the remainder but wanted to know if anyone else has seen this.

Southwest is a good company 40yrs never had that happen. I’m sure it’s very rare and you were unlucky to end up with a bad roll.

 

[readydave8]

Eons ago you could buy 12-2 plain and 10-3 plain. Probably 14-2 plain but I didn't see any.

Probably less than 5 years ago when I finally realized I didn't have to say "with ground" when ordering wire, I knew it was the only way it came but took a long time to break habit

 

[mopowr steve]

about 25 years ago I felt a strange lump inside a piece of NM and my curiosity got me to cut it open. There was a splice in the ground, just folded over and crimped together. Only time I've ever seen that

I came across a butt-splice once in this fashion. Talk about an almost perfect crime!

And another instance where a piece of 12-3 had its conductors spun so tight it ruptured the insulation on the conductors. Run away machine!

 

[ActionDave]

My old boss had a piece of 6-3 Romex that had the bare EGC spliced to the red insulated conductor. It was wrapped under the sheathing; an unknowable defect that only revealed itself months after it had been installed to power the range in the kitchen of a custom log home. If you have ever wired a log home then you know how difficult it could be to replace.

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

I feel for you.
It may have been in the defective pile and some how it ended up being wrapped. (That's a big MAY HAVE).
This is before the box stores:
Through our the years I've seen Romex with butt splices made in them with the sheathing covering it perfectly and had 14/3 once wth an open conductor sheathed over .
(Luckily that one was exposed enough to replace it without going into the finished walls or ceiling.)