electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
HVAC guy ran TC-ER cable for some mini splits, and I got zinged on it during inspection. Although this is Washington, which has an exception allowing TC-ER cable to be used where NM is allowed, this is in a commercial building and part of the runs are above a drop ceiling which is of course a deal breaker. I am working with the HVAC guy to find a solution. Here is the exception:
The interconnect cables are run in three different areas: 1) above a drop ceiling. 2) in vertical chases that will be covered, and 3) on the roof. On the roof, the TC-ER is currently sleeved in LFNC and follows the line set. Questions:
1) It seems to me that, giving the exception/allowance in the WAC (Washington Administrative Code) the only issue is with #1, in which case I proposed sleeving the portion that is above the drop ceiling in something, probably greenfield. Do you concur?
2) He threw around the idea of just replacing the entire run of TC-ER with MC. The MC could be stripped/transitioned/sleeved for the #3 part. I said that MC inners are often just THHN and would need to be THWN being on the roof. I checked two different brands of MC I had lying around and both only had THHN on the tracer. Southwire's website says their inners are THHN/THWN, but I would want to see it with my own eyes. Anyone recall which MC has THWN inners?
3) any other ideas? Of course coated MC would be ideal (southwire makes a min split cable which is essentially just coated MC) however he said he got a price on it and it was very pricey and the connectors are like a zillion dollars each. There are 6 units and probably over 1000' of interconnect.
The interconnect cables are run in three different areas: 1) above a drop ceiling. 2) in vertical chases that will be covered, and 3) on the roof. On the roof, the TC-ER is currently sleeved in LFNC and follows the line set. Questions:
1) It seems to me that, giving the exception/allowance in the WAC (Washington Administrative Code) the only issue is with #1, in which case I proposed sleeving the portion that is above the drop ceiling in something, probably greenfield. Do you concur?
2) He threw around the idea of just replacing the entire run of TC-ER with MC. The MC could be stripped/transitioned/sleeved for the #3 part. I said that MC inners are often just THHN and would need to be THWN being on the roof. I checked two different brands of MC I had lying around and both only had THHN on the tracer. Southwire's website says their inners are THHN/THWN, but I would want to see it with my own eyes. Anyone recall which MC has THWN inners?
3) any other ideas? Of course coated MC would be ideal (southwire makes a min split cable which is essentially just coated MC) however he said he got a price on it and it was very pricey and the connectors are like a zillion dollars each. There are 6 units and probably over 1000' of interconnect.
