mxlplx00
Member
- Location
- Watsonville, California
- Occupation
- Electrician
Hi,
I have a customer with a very large pond in a naturally formed small canyon that gathers water in the winter and overflows on the lower bank. On the lower bank was a raised set of j-boxes with 2- GFCI receptacles, one that fed a pump about 15 feet away. Also out of this box is a 20-amp feed to another pump for an artificial stream 100 feet up the hill. These are fed by 2 20-amp (3 wire) circuits from a quad breaker in the pool house.
He had the part of his property below the pond landscaped and no longer liked the ugly electrical box in the middle of the overflow bank so had it removed and replaced with a below grade 12 inch burial box. In this box are the 3-wire feeders, conduit/wire going to the stream pump, a 2-inch corrugated flexible irrigation conduit coming from the pond float tank containing the pump cord with plug end and 2 new PVC conduits (1" & 3/4") going to the new control box location 15 feet to the side. They also installed a 2-inch grated drain in the bottom tied into the landscape drain system.
So I have 7 splices in this burial box. Article 682.12 (2017) states All electrical connections intended for operation while submerged shall be located 12-inches above deck but not below electrical datum plane.
The electrical datum plane defined as the water level of an area of land subject to tidal fluctuation and 2 feet above.
So is this splice box a code violation? It would seem so. Even if it's not isn't it a safety hazard? I found a scientific breakdown of throwing a live toaster in the ocean and how far away you would have to be to be safe.
I have been thinking how to resolve this and consulted with a landscape designer that I've worked with and he suggested marine grade heat shrink over heavy duty butt/crimp connectors. I could do this and use several layers of heat shrink but...
I could pull new wire from the last above ground box on each run and feed un-spliced THHN through the burial box. Then there would be no "electrical connections" and THHN (w) is always covered in water in underground conduit when I find it. But these runs are very long and old. It should be doable though and if I can sleep better worth it.
The cord connected pump that enters this box is still not long enough to reach the new boxes and the plug is probably too big to fit through the 1". The landscape guy said that they often cut the plug off and splice a weather rated extension cord onto it with the marine heat shrink method and then heat shrink the 2 cords together and said this is as good as a continuous factory cord making the burial box basically a shovel guard.
Any thoughts here?
Thanks
Marc
I have a customer with a very large pond in a naturally formed small canyon that gathers water in the winter and overflows on the lower bank. On the lower bank was a raised set of j-boxes with 2- GFCI receptacles, one that fed a pump about 15 feet away. Also out of this box is a 20-amp feed to another pump for an artificial stream 100 feet up the hill. These are fed by 2 20-amp (3 wire) circuits from a quad breaker in the pool house.
He had the part of his property below the pond landscaped and no longer liked the ugly electrical box in the middle of the overflow bank so had it removed and replaced with a below grade 12 inch burial box. In this box are the 3-wire feeders, conduit/wire going to the stream pump, a 2-inch corrugated flexible irrigation conduit coming from the pond float tank containing the pump cord with plug end and 2 new PVC conduits (1" & 3/4") going to the new control box location 15 feet to the side. They also installed a 2-inch grated drain in the bottom tied into the landscape drain system.
So I have 7 splices in this burial box. Article 682.12 (2017) states All electrical connections intended for operation while submerged shall be located 12-inches above deck but not below electrical datum plane.
The electrical datum plane defined as the water level of an area of land subject to tidal fluctuation and 2 feet above.
So is this splice box a code violation? It would seem so. Even if it's not isn't it a safety hazard? I found a scientific breakdown of throwing a live toaster in the ocean and how far away you would have to be to be safe.
I have been thinking how to resolve this and consulted with a landscape designer that I've worked with and he suggested marine grade heat shrink over heavy duty butt/crimp connectors. I could do this and use several layers of heat shrink but...
I could pull new wire from the last above ground box on each run and feed un-spliced THHN through the burial box. Then there would be no "electrical connections" and THHN (w) is always covered in water in underground conduit when I find it. But these runs are very long and old. It should be doable though and if I can sleep better worth it.
The cord connected pump that enters this box is still not long enough to reach the new boxes and the plug is probably too big to fit through the 1". The landscape guy said that they often cut the plug off and splice a weather rated extension cord onto it with the marine heat shrink method and then heat shrink the 2 cords together and said this is as good as a continuous factory cord making the burial box basically a shovel guard.
Any thoughts here?
Thanks
Marc
