guitarchris
Senior Member
- Location
- Central North Carolina
i guess the H.O. must not have cared enough about the metal boxes to call me. The job is about to go to insulation and nary a peep from the H.O. or GC regarding this.
Hurk,
Have seen customers with very sensitive hands,
so that what I see as warm (120 degrees) feels like 'hot' to them.
600 W on a 600 W dimmer can get 'warm'. Maybe too 'warm'.
The metal box can cool things down enough,
so the HO sees the beauty of the well hung chandelier.
Speaking of dimmers, does anyone else hate the models with break off tabs? You usually have to start removing tabs to get 2 dimmers side by side. What poor design. Of course, each lost tab is lost wattage capacity.
Speaking of dimmers, does anyone else hate the models with break off tabs? You usually have to start removing tabs to get 2 dimmers side by side. What poor design. Of course, each lost tab is lost wattage capacity.
where else do you suppose they'll squeeze the heatsink in while keeping the same profile that fits in a standard box and underneath a wallplate?
The use of EMT in the Chicago area is required by local codes. Those code cover about half of the population of Illinois.
As I remember you are allowed to use FMC at those places where you can't get EMT around. For instance in those pictures I talked about I remember a whip on the end of an EMT run for the later installation of a cut-in box for a light by the front door. The hi-hats in the kitchen ceiling were all hard piped though.
As for those dimmers, when was the last time you saw one actually in contact with the box? Nearly always the box is set back the legal 1/4" and the dimmer is held tight to the drywall by the screws. The only time I can see a metal box helping with heat dissipation is with a mud ring and it's wide lip that is installed dead flush with the front of the drywall and the dimmer sitting right on it. Since that isn't going to happen IMO plastic is just as good as metal.
-Hal
I can't find a pic right now, but, I've seen a two-sided nail-on box that's 4.5" deep and takes devices on both sides.
Wouldn't that still be a problem with multigang applications?Could they plate the dimmer itself? That would be a fair surface area of metal.
While that is often the cited reason for such rules, it doesn't make a lot of sense. The amount of non-metallic, toxic smoke producing, building materials is very small compared to the same materials in the building finishes and furnishings.Back to the original topic, the only viable reason that I can see for using metal over plastic for your junction boxes would be from the common rules regulating multifamily homes and commercial buildings over 3 stories - build-up of toxic fumes from burning plastic during a fire. ...
Most often, when I've used metal boxes in otherwise-all-plastic jobs, it has been when mixing old and new wiring in a remodel, as a way of bonding existing BX or conduit runs.Back to the original topic, the only viable reason that I can see for using metal over plastic for your junction boxes would be from the common rules regulating multifamily homes and commercial buildings over 3 stories - build-up of toxic fumes from burning plastic during a fire.
While that is often the cited reason for such rules, it doesn't make a lot of sense. The amount of non-metallic, toxic smoke producing, building materials is very small compared to the same materials in the building finishes and furnishings.
Level of liability, I guess.It also does not make sense that in many commercial applications use of NM cable, plastic boxes, PVC raceways is prohibited because of toxic fumes given off when these items burn. Yet they are ok to install in dwellings where people sleep while this stuff just happens to start a fire. At least in most commercial applications people are not sleeping, or they at least have even better fire alarm systems than what is typical in a dwelling. Commercial buildings are often better designed to inhibit the spread of fire better than dwellings also.
Wiring could be a casualty of a fire, not the cause, and still emit toxins.Besides why is the wiring going to start the fire? If installed according to NEC, that risk should be fairly minimized.
Level of liability, I guess.
Wiring could be a casualty of a fire, not the cause, and still emit toxins.