I had to do a service call today. Contractor wants a new circuit run to feed a rat's nest of mid-Eighties lighting controllers. The way it was fed was scary and they want it removed and a new circuit (or two) run from the panel. I discovered an old wire gutter into which this B/C runs and out comes EMT for the lighting receptacles (this part is fine).
The question is can I leave the gutter there and use it for my new circuits (olds are coming out)? I have never seen a wire gutter used for branch circuits, always for feeders. Is this a "compliant" installation and implementation? I've been over 366 like mad and can't find a specification one way or the other.
I doubt that what you have is an auxiliary gutter as defined in Article 366, but in fact, it is probably a metal wireway subject to 376.
Typically an auxiliary gutter as defined in 366 is designed to supplement the wiring spaces at meter centers, distrubution centers, switchboards, and similar points on a wiring system. (See 366.10)
A metal wireway is a sheetmetal trough that is installed independent of another enclosure such as a panel or meter ect.
No worries about this. All that is needed here is one 20 A circuit (I may just pull two just for expansion). I don't understand who did what and why, but I'm sure someone knew a cousin who had a brother whose boss changed a switch in their house one time, and the guy across the street helped him, and they wound up hiring his uncle, who used to be a carpenter, to do this. It appears someone had a low-volt PAR can system running and spliced in this box (lots of splices!)... along with who knows what. I ought to take pictures of this rat's nest, just so we can pick apart and laugh. I don't know if I even want post the pics of the Electrical room from this place. If they were willing to pay me to bring it up to Code (even for the time it was done), I would not have to work for a year.
While I was sizing up the job, I kept hearing a buzz when I walked by the panel. The guy who's commisioning me to do this job said he didn't hear anything different than what always was. I removed the lighting panel's cover and, low and behold, blue sparks from behind the breaker serving the very circuit I have to replace. I don't know which came first, but apparently the arcing burnt a concave hole on either size of the bus tab the fits into the breaker, creating a poor contact for even more arcing. I don't know how this place didn't burn down 20 years ago.
Anyhow, back on topic, I see how this is a "wireway" rather than a gutter since it is not hooked to service equipment. It sounds like a go. Pics will be here soon.
Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I finally uploaded a bunch of old pictures, and here were the ones from this job when I first showed up to survey things. Side note: this is after I vacuumed the whole area for 30 minutes with my shop vac just so I could get to the wireway and take the cover off!
Needless to say, I just wound up taking all of this out and running a single new 20 A circuit to one 1900 box that subsequently fed the ceiling-mounted receptacles throughout the club.:smile:
