Has Anybody Heard Of This?

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solo618

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Orange County, N.Y.
A guy at work was telling me in residential work, if you bring 12 awg and 14awg romex into the same box, an inspector will fail you and tell you to remove one and relocate it to another box.This i cannot understand because i thought wires of different sizes could exist in a box ,raceway or whatever as long as their insulation is rated for the same voltage.I'm thinking maybe he some how misinterpreted something.
 
solo618 said:
A guy at work was telling me in residential work, if you bring 12 awg and 14awg romex into the same box, an inspector will fail you and tell you to remove one and relocate it to another box.This i cannot understand because i thought wires of different sizes could exist in a box ,raceway or whatever as long as their insulation is rated for the same voltage.I'm thinking maybe he some how misinterpreted something.
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You are correct. This is permitted by the NEC as Stickboy mentioned a panel box has various size wires in one box.
 
solo618 said:
A guy at work was telling me in residential work, if you bring 12 awg and 14awg romex into the same box, an inspector will fail you and tell you to remove one and relocate it to another box.This i cannot understand because i thought wires of different sizes could exist in a box ,raceway or whatever as long as their insulation is rated for the same voltage.I'm thinking maybe he some how misinterpreted something.
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Could the inspector be saying to keep the two different-sized conductors on different circuits...you know, the 14 on a 15 amp bc and the 12 on a 20 amp? I don't see a problem with a 15 amp bc sharing the same box with a 20 amp bc as long as they're not interposed on each other. :smile:
 
stickboy1375 said:
Probably another, lets dumb the electrical trade down some more so homeowners can install their own work with less problems. :roll:
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Don't forget about those who slept through their theory and code classes. :rolleyes:
 
solo618 said:
A guy at work was telling me in residential work, if you bring 12 awg and 14awg romex into the same bo.
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And I'm having difficulty finding work!:grin: :grin: :grin:
 
thanks

thanks

thanks guys for the responses,i knew i was right because that was so rediculous. I think he just misunderstood something or there might really be an inspector out there doing this to some guys. Now thats scarey.
 
solo618 said:
I think he just misunderstood something or there might really be an inspector out there doing this to some guys. Now thats scarey.
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Not really, I'd have a lot of fun with an inspector that tried to enforce nonsense like that.
 
Most likely, he spliced on a 14ga cable to the end of a 12ga cable on the same circuit and got tagged by the inspector. Then rather than learn from the experience, he assumed it was instead some quirk of the code and has been spreading his error around ever since, but not relating the entire scenario.
 
solo618 said:
thanks guys for the responses,i knew i was right because that was so rediculous. I think he just misunderstood something or there might really be an inspector out there doing this to some guys. Now thats scarey.
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There used to be an inspector around here who said it was against the electrical code to have more than 4 receptacles on a small appliance branch circuit. He also said it was code to have the grounds facing up on receptacles. He also made installers use #2 copper for the ground rods on a 400 ampere service. If he didn't like your work, he told the general contractor that if you stayed on the job, he wouldn't sign off. Never mind that you were willing to go along with his whims, if he didn't like you, he'd throw you out of town.
Good riddance. :smile: He finally retired. Phew! :confused:
 
lpelectric said:
There used to be an inspector around here who said it was against the electrical code to have more than 4 receptacles on a small appliance branch circuit. He also said it was code to have the grounds facing up on receptacles. He also made installers use #2 copper for the ground rods on a 400 ampere service. If he didn't like your work, he told the general contractor that if you stayed on the job, he wouldn't sign off. Never mind that you were willing to go along with his whims, if he didn't like you, he'd throw you out of town.
Good riddance. :smile: He finally retired. Phew! :confused:
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A guy like that would have a miserable life around me.:rolleyes:
 
infinity said:
A guy like that would have a miserable life around me.:rolleyes:
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So tell me how? Small town, board backs inspector! What's your options? I've fought with some small town inspectors, easier to just do what they want than try and fight, even when they don't have a clue!
 
tufts46argled said:
So tell me how? Small town, board backs inspector! What's your options? I've fought with some small town inspectors, easier to just do what they want than try and fight, even when they don't have a clue!
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Um, I would start with a call to his boss.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
You are correct. This is permitted by the NEC as Stickboy mentioned a panel box has various size wires in one box.
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Wire size going in and out of a box is determined by ampacity of the circuit breaker, 12 AWG is rated for higher ampacity than 14 AWG.
 
stickboy1375 said:
Um, I would start with a call to his boss.
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I see you don't get what we face in some small jurisdictions, no boss, they work for the Board of Alderman, or City Council, no recourse even when they're totally wrong about code issues!
 
tufts46argled said:
I see you don't get what we face in some small jurisdictions, no boss, they work for the Board of Alderman, or City Council, no recourse even when they're totally wrong about code issues!
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So what would you do if he insisted on creating code violations?
 
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