# 6 ground wire has to be green, not taped.

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roger said:
Jim, I'll be e-mailing Hillsborough, Highlands, Hardee, DeSoto, Pinellas, Polk, and the cities in these counties so you won't feel left out before your retirement. :grin:

Let me know if I need to include Manatee or some other county you may work in. :wink:

Roger
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You left out pasco
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
This forces a guy doing a small job to buy all the colors.Results in higher cost.
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Jim, the costs are the same, unless an EC only plans on doing one job and then going out of bussiness.

Besides, if the you really have no other use for that color you can always buy cuts.

Jim W in Tampa said:
In the 26 years i been wiring i have not known supply houses to stock it.
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How would you know?

Have you asked?

I bet they have it.


220/221 said:
It is one of those stupid things that I would comply with if forced to.
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Have you got that on your letterheads yet? :roll:
 
Could be worse - all conductors smaller than #4 with the appropriate color insulation, local code here in the sentences right after the mandatory color code.

Finding purple #6 can be a chore...
 
iwire said:
Jim, the costs are the same, unless an EC only plans on doing one job and then going out of bussiness.

Besides, if the you really have no other use for that color you can always buy cuts.



How would you know?

Have you asked?

I bet they have it.




Have you got that on your letterheads yet? :roll:
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Bob,do you know how long the run is before you get to the job ? The cost for cut wire is not the same as buying the roll.

Lets try a typical job.Customer wants to wire his garage for a 120/240 and 50 amp panel and will need 2 outlets 20 amp 120 volt and 1 light and swith. You ask how near it is from panel and they say 50 feet.Now with that info can you make material list and do this job in one trip.Stop and buy the wire on the way.Job is 1 hour from your shop and supply house is 3 blocks from you.

Just what size will you get the cuts in ?
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
This forces a guy doing a small job to buy all the colors.Results in higher cost.
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Nobody's forcing the small guy to do the job.

When a large shop buys a core drill and assorted bits, it'll profit more just because the opportunity to use it will occur more often.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
I could deal with #10.That does not take up much space in truck or add greatly to cost.But this rule shows no reason to be there.If i am doing some RTU's and run out of green it forces me to go to supply house or stop and order it.
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No, If you're wiring some ETUs and you run out of ANYTHING you demonstrate poor planning and poor business skills and don't deserve a let-go because of your poor planning.

It seems to me that no matter what the rules are and no matter where the bar is, there will ALWAYS be someone in business that wants those rules relaxed, and it is always for the same reason.

This might be my last unit on job that needs #10 green.What do you think most guys will do? Often i have a gang box full of other colors but no green.

Perhaps someone could make a fast legal machine to color white wire as needed.
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What makes you think you'd run out of green paint any less than you run out of green wire?
 
They sell #6 and #8 at HD in green, white, red and black last I knew. Most suppliers will at least have #6/8 in green, but usually not white.

Anyway, white or green taped #6 and #8 is pretty low on my list of things to be concerned about.
 
Jon456 said:
I certainly don't know why, but I can fathom a guess. It's easier to to a good taping job on large wire. Plus large wire is not subject to tight bends the way small wire is. I suspect that there would be too many cases of poorly adhered tape wraps on small wire or the small-radius bending of the small wire can make the tape lose its hold. Perhaps they believe that tape on small wire is not a reliable method of marking. Another possible reason is that as you get into larger conductors, the smaller size of the ECG helps distinguish the ground (in addition to the tape).

In any case, I think this could be looked at as a blessing for the installer. It gives him the leverage to demand he be supplied with green wire instead of being given a roll of green tape and told to tape every small wire connection. What a pain in the arse that would be!
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Wouldn't taping a wire continuiously, or even taping every inch of what is visable within a termination, also be a code violation? Because it's now impossible to read the type and size wire.
 
Jim, assuming there are unknowns in a given job, such as branch circuit or feeder lengths, how would you price the job?

I would do the job at T & M rates, if after I get to the job I find that a trip to the supply house is necessary to go get a specific breaker, a starter, a particular odd ball fuse, or even a piece of green # 6 it would just be charged to the customer.

Roger
 
iwire said:
That aside I have used green as large as 2 AWG but that was job spec.
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Same here, we've had a roll sitting in our shop for quite awhile that was left over from a TELCO building we worked on.

Roger
 
peter d said:
Anyway, white or green taped #6 and #8 is pretty low on my list of things to be concerned about.
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I agree Peter, but it is not the Inspector nor the Electricians position "legally" to disregard or alter the code. We must wire and enforce what is written. Unless the AHJ "Building Official" which an Inspector is not (unless he or she is a one person municipality) legally in writing, amends the code.
 
dcspector said:
I agree Peter, but it is not the Inspector nor the Electricians position "legally" to disregard or alter the code. We must wire and enforce what is written. Unless the AHJ "Building Official" which an Inspector is not (unless he or she is a one person municipality) legally in writing, amends the code.
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No argument here. :) I always try to use the right wire for the job, and I don't advocate that we just ignore this code as we see fit. But I don't see a great safety hazard in reidentified #6 and #8 conductors, especially since we reidentify black wires all the time in #4 and larger.

I also know that sometime "job reality" means that you use what you have to get the job done. We've all been there and done that, so once in a while it happens that a piece of black wire gets taped.
 
Peter I agree 110% with you, as I did in your previous post. I just did not want others as Inspectors running around saying nah I don't enforce that or that......I did that once about 7 years ago and learned the hard way.
 
use tape all the time

use tape all the time

I think a lot of inspectors like to show people they know things that others dont. I ve been knowing about the the code on green tape since got my license in 1992 yet I use green tape on wires as small as 14 . I also see it all the time on other peoples work. I put in a lot of mobile home feeder that uses # 4 alum grounding conductor on both 100 and 200 amp. If we dont have green we tape it. I have never been called a single time and its hard to believe that all the inspectors didnt know. Until I get flagged Im going to use the tape
 
The public indifference to a code is not a real strong case for a proposal, but I am just the sort of fool to try it. I think the rule ought to be 10 and under, myself. :)

I think I might start a poll to see how widely this is actually enforced.

Dennis Alwon said:
And tell me what good would that do if it has been rejected so many times before.
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They sometimes change their minds. I submitted a proposal in the 2008 cycle that had been rejected before, and was accepted. All I did was add a little humor into the mix.
 
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jetlag said:
. I put in a lot of mobile home feeder that uses # 4 alum grounding conductor on both 100 and 200 amp. If we dont have green we tape it. I have never been called a single time and its hard to believe that all the inspectors didnt know. Until I get flagged Im going to use the tape
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maybe, beacuse it's not a violation ???
 
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