Bare copper in EMT

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Not sure if it's a true story but an instructor I had several years ago told the class that a young electrician (or trainee) in Tacoma grabbed both sides of a separated piece in EMT. There was a fault and he ended up completing the path...through his body. He didn't make it.

True or not, it made an impression. Between EMT and wire type EGC, the latter seems like the better choice for longevity.

Rob
 
Jerramundi said:
I take offense to the implication that I would do anything less than that. For the record, I double check EVERY SINGLE set screw TWICE. I tighten as I go and then go over my raceway a second time EVERY SINGLE TIME giving EVERY set-screw a second crank with a flat-head because I feel it provides more torque and as a means to double check my own work because I am only human.
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Excellent procedure. I like the Klein setscrew driver, the one with a thick flat blade inside a little centering tube.

I try to drive every EMT setscrew all the way down, so the dimple, and not just friction, holds the joints together.

I also routinely double-tighten terminals, whether large or small, like main lugs, breaker terminals, devices, etc.
 
LarryFine said:
Is that box large enough for the quantity of wires that it will eventually contain along with devices ???
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With the 1" ring on it, yes. It's a homerun box with a bedroom and living room circuit being pulled straight through in the future. This box will just contain splices for 1st Floor Lighting and Dining Room SABC.

The FMC will go away also. It's serving a temporary connection to the existing lighting in the front of the house which they're doing at a later date. Two of the upward pipes are just stub ups right now. The guy did his bathroom and one kitchen wall and I used the walls to bring 2 new homeruns to each of two units and planned it out so all my stubs to the other areas of the units were in place.
 
The inspector tried to knock me for using an all-thread coupling on black pipe + with an FMC connector, but acknowledged it was typical to find in the field and let me go because I told him it was only temporary. He says the code approved way to do that would be RIGID to EMT Coupling + 1" of EMT Conduit + EMT to FMC Transfer Coupling.
 
LarryFine said:
I never zip-tie wires, even stranded in panels. I figure out how to use the natural curl to my advantage.
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See I prefer the pigtail method to devices as opposed to stripping the wire mid way and hooking it on.. and no matter how hard I try, there is always 1 out of 100 times where a few wrong folds of that wire as your working it in the box loosens that pigtail wire... so now I just just zip tip all my splices. Takes a second, it's cheap, and I know my splices are never, EVER coming apart.
 
LarryFine said:
I abhor taped wirenuts and devices, too, unless there's a particular reason to do so.
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Haha. I used to tape wire nuts just over thinking things. The exposed underside bothered me. I don't anymore. But I'm so OCD that I never orient my wirenuts facing downward so as to form a "cup."

I was taught to always tape my devices so the terminal screws could never contact the box. It stuck with me and I like it.
 
LarryFine said:
I never zip-tie wires, even stranded in panels. I figure out how to use the natural curl to my advantage.
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Panels I've gone zip tie crazy a couple times trying to get the stranded to sit right, I admit.
Now I pull all my homeruns in solid and I've developed a great method to get a good solid to stranded splice.
 
I just pay extra attention to every joint I make. I say to myself "This splice will not be the one that fails" with every one I make. If I do that every time, I should have none fail. I also never ever use spring-loaded stab-ins.

For example, when I twist a few #12s together, I make sure the insulation is even, the twists are smooth and even, cut the tips even, then twist the tips again with my pliers to knock down the sharp corners from cutting.
 
Jerramundi said:
:cool: .... Oh yea, look at those several tight twists below the wire nuts AND those zip ties. Sexy. Mm. Tssssssss lol
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Do you use flush side cutters instead of regular dykes to cut the zip ties? The flush cutters are great because they leave no little nib behind that can nick your skin or at least be annoying.
 
synchro said:
Do you use flush side cutters instead of regular dykes to cut the zip ties? The flush cutters are great because they leave no little nib behind that can nick your skin or at least be annoying.
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Dont know what #jerramundi uses. I use a zip tool that tensions and cuts the tail off in one step neat little tool. The tensioner is adjustable. platinum-tools-specialty-hand-tools-10200c-64_1000.jpg
 
LarryFine said:
I just pay extra attention to every joint I make. I say to myself "This splice will not be the one that fails" with every one I make. If I do that every time, I should have none fail. I also never ever use spring-loaded stab-ins.
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I'm the same way. But I still find that that the single wire-type pigtail to the device can come loose from the splice the more you spin the device around and form the wires around to fit the box.

The zip-ties are excessive yes, but they give me that extra little bit of confidence that my splice is NEVER going to come undone... that I can form those wires in various ways, rotate the device, etc. without worry.

I deplore back-stabs too. I only utilize them when I have no other option. Otherwise I always wrap the wire around the terminal screw and leave that 1" of insulation on the end to keep the wire from fraying.

I've started exploring various combinations of stranded and solid wire... such as pulling solid for my homeruns to give me the ability to better form it in the panel... and using solid for all terminations. For example, I pull stranded green to make the pull easier, but for that pigtail to the box, I use solid so it hooks to the grounding screw perfectly.
 
LarryFine said:
For example, when I twist a few #12s together, I make sure the insulation is even, the twists are smooth and even, cut the tips even, then twist the tips again with my pliers to knock down the sharp corners from cutting.
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Cut the tips even? It's a called a "hair-cut," Larry. Pfft, lol.
I twist again post haircut too. I also use my side cutters to give the wire nut a final quater-half turn.

These guys that just twist the wires by hand and spin the wire nut on should be banned, lol.
If you can't take that wire nut off without losing splice, you've failed, IMO
 
synchro said:
Do you use flush side cutters instead of regular dykes to cut the zip ties? The flush cutters are great because they leave no little nib behind that can nick your skin or at least be annoying.
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Frankly, I'm afraid to use the side-cutters for the zip tie. It's just so much bulkier than the dykes and I worry about pinching another wire.
The dykes have that fine, definitive cutting point.
 
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