Re: House wiring in emt?
Watching this thread play out has been a bit of an experience. It has taken some turns as threads sometimes can. But I feel that I must set some things straight.
First, Chicago has always had their own electrical code. It is not some sort of local amendment as some have suggested or believed. Prior to 1999, it was completely different than the NEC and most other codes. In 1999, Chicago re-wrote it?s now arcane code to and based a large part of it on the current NEC. The Chicago Electrical Commission was tasked with re-writing the code at that time. It consists of the Chief Electrical Inspector, a professional engineer in the electrical discipline, an electrical contractor, a journeyworker electrician, a representative from the local utility, [Exelon], and the director of Fire Prevention. There are sections that are strictly Chicago such as high rise codes, plenum codes, and hospital codes. The new code is so written for the most part, to only recognize the metallic wiring methods. That being said, Chicago code does address things like NM cable, and other non-metallic wiring methods, but in so doing severely limits the scope of their use.
Second, I would venture a guess that the photos that Scott Moran posted are those of a house under construction in the suburbs, not the city; it may even be one I inspected in our town, but no matter. Now to that; we adopted the 1999 NEC, but limited the accepted wiring methods to those metallic ones recognized by the Chicago code. Russ?s area, I believe has adopted the Chicago code. I would look to change to that as well, as it weeds out some of the confusion in working between suburbs. As Scott has accurately stated, as an inspector, I am a stickler for strapping. I don?t whip out a tape measure to see if I can conjure up a violation, but I do believe that pipes should not rattle in a wall; nail straps are inexpensive, quick and easy to install.
To respond to ryan comments as to our decorated history with a number of disasters. That may be true, but I don?t believe that any of these could be directly attributable to the use of EMT as it is today. Even the recent fire at the county building where people died, and it is being touted as being started by a fluorescent fixture, as tragic as that is, I believe, will not speak to the EMT as being an issue.
What makes our codes as stringent as they are could be that we are the birthplace of the high-rise. We have ?2- of the tallest building in the US here in Chicago. There are other projects that too have been called the ?worlds ----?. And while ryan may feel it?s a joke that a locality may make up it?s own code, we are far from a ?locality?; for a long time being one of the top 5 largest cities in this country. What took place here required codes that addressed things that were not happening everywhere else. That being said, residential does happen pretty much every place else, but we do it our way, and it seems to work fine.
Both brianjohn and wolfman tout that this is a big union town, [area]. We are. I have been told that we are one of the largest IBEW locals in the country with between 9000 and 10,000 members. There are even more in the ?2- collar counties that are strictly pipe and wire. I?m one of those union members. We have our way of life, and you have yours. If I were to say that it takes more skill and talent to install EMT over NM, I bet you would be offended. I would grant you that to do a job well using whatever means of wiring you use is up to the individual or the contractor.
Ryan, I don?t think we?re going to take your advice and do what everyone else does; we?re still going to have our code. It seems that the contractors here can deal with those municipalities that use Chicago, those that use the NEC, and all the local amendments; we?re kinda? dynamic that way.
I try to be introspective and respectful when I write my posts; not believing what we do is better than someone else. That?s what I tried to state in my last post. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. I have read this post from beginning to end, and I believe that some of the comments posted here do not share in that mutual respect and have at times been sarcastic; perhaps I can?t tell since we can only discern tone from the words we see. I respect most everyone here as professionals whether they are a one-man band type of operation or the most degreed engineer. I would ask that since differences exist between areas, that we just accept that we cannot change. In that I mean, unless you live or work in our area, don?t bash it.
OOPS! I forgot...electrons move slower in Boston, right?
