Emergency TIA needed ASAP for raintight EMT fittings

electrofelon

electrofelon

Senior Member
Location
Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
Occupation
Electrician
I was at a new install today, a bunch of equipment mounted on an exterior wall lots of 2 inch and 3/4 EMT with rain tight fittings. These things are huge problem and something needs to be done about them. Do you think it would be better to go after the product standard or try and get the NFPA to ban them?
 
You have a lot more experience with RT fittings than I do. What issues are you finding? Is it specific to one manufacturer?
 
Let me guess, the gaskets? Halex, Arlington, Bridgeport. Any of them with a black gasket. Tighten wrench tight and the gasket just gets pushed out of the way. Tighten to just before the gasket spills out, it will crack and fall out in less that a year of sun exposure. The rounded shoulder on the steel fittings with a rubber washer is pointless. CH fittings have a more square shoulder, and a plastic yellow washer that seems to hold up better. The American Fittings Rt connectors have a machined face and a flat seal that holds up nicely, but $$$$.

Absolute joke that these "raintight" connectors are totally fine to be used to top entry a 3r panel. But threading one into a Myers hub gets everyone all wound about about "but what about the UL listing".
 
tom baker said:
You have a lot more experience with RT fittings than I do. What issues are you finding? Is it specific to one manufacturer?
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The worst ones are the ones with the rubber gasket. The fitting can not be tightened at all, like not even enough to get thru the paint. I am worried about bonding and structural integrity from having all these completely loose fittings.
 
ppsh said:
Let me guess, the gaskets? Halex, Arlington, Bridgeport. Any of them with a black gasket. Tighten wrench tight and the gasket just gets pushed out of the way. Tighten to just before the gasket spills out, it will crack and fall out in less that a year of sun exposure. The rounded shoulder on the steel fittings with a rubber washer is pointless. CH fittings have a more square shoulder, and a plastic yellow washer that seems to hold up better. The American Fittings Rt connectors have a machined face and a flat seal that holds up nicely, but $$$$.

Absolute joke that these "raintight" connectors are totally fine to be used to top entry a 3r panel. But threading one into a Myers hub gets everyone all wound about about "but what about the UL listing".
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Yes, the ones with the hard plastic gasket are still awful, but the ones with the soft rubber gasket are absolutely unbelievably atrocious. I am seriously in awe that UL passes those, I am nearly completely lost for words.

Yes I have used the american fittings ones, they are nicer but I am steill skeptical of how long that ring will hold up and then you are back to a completely loose fitting.
 
....Ya know and I gotta say it. I ACTUALLY LIKE THE IDEA of listed and tested products, but this whole raintight thing (among other things) just makes me say screw it all, i dont trust these people whatsoever. Im done trusting these agencies and Im just going to start making all my own decisions whenever possible. Sorry I'm just done listening to these people, they had their chance.
 
electrofelon said:
Yes, the ones with the hard plastic gasket are still awful, but the ones with the soft rubber gasket are absolutely unbelievably atrocious. I am seriously in awe that UL passes those, I am nearly completely lost for words.

Yes I have used the american fittings ones, they are nicer but I am steill skeptical of how long that ring will hold up and then you are back to a completely loose fitting.
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I won't use a raintight without a Myers hub where I wouldn't trust a regular compression connector. If I'm threading it into a hub, I'm not using a gasket, The American Fittings gaskets hold up well, at least over a few years, it the same gasket as their LFMC fittings, have put hundreds of those in, they are as nice as they get
 
This does not seem like a subject for a TIA in the NEC. This would require a proposal to change the product standard and the required testing of the product.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
This does not seem like a subject for a TIA in the NEC. This would require a proposal to change the product standard and the required testing of the product.
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I am torn which route should be taken. On one hand I think the NEC route, as the rain tight stuff is not even necessary, as there are other code sections that already cover this (raceways required to drain, weep holes, wet location conductors, entries below live parts, etc). However if there is going to be a gasket, the product standard needs to have something that actually works, will not get destroyed by the sun, and allows the fitting to be tightened wrench tight. I think the only way to accomplish this would have the gasket be in a machined recess, kind of like an o-ring boss hydraulic fitting. But back to the nec, a TIA maybe the quickest way to address this as it is an emergency in my opinion with thousands of loose fittings being installed every day.
 
electrofelon said:
I am torn which route should be taken. On one hand I think the NEC route, as the rain tight stuff is not even necessary, as there are other code sections that already cover this (raceways required to drain, weep holes, wet location conductors, entries below live parts, etc). However if there is going to be a gasket, the product standard needs to have something that actually works, will not get destroyed by the sun, and allows the fitting to be tightened wrench tight. I think the only way to accomplish this would have the gasket be in a machined recess, kind of like an o-ring boss hydraulic fitting. But back to the nec, a TIA maybe the quickest way to address this as it is an emergency in my opinion with thousands of loose fittings being installed every day.
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You will need a "body count" to get a TIA.
 
I mean how many years ago did they go for the gaskets on the RT fittings? 10-15 years??

Before that compression fittings had no gaskets and I don't recall many issues.

I'd rather have a fitting that I can tighten than the crappy gasket
 
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