plenum rated receptacles

Status
Not open for further replies.
texie said:
You can just use a regular receptacle. Problem is the code does not let you use it as you can't have flexible cords above a drop ceiling.
Click to expand...
I thought wall-warts were okay since they have no line-voltage cord.
 
warren meier said:
this I know...however our state inspector informed me there is a product out there that encases the cordand receptacle therefore legal
Click to expand...
If your state inspector finds it let us know. Besides the issue with flexible cords above any ceiling very few things are allowed in plenums.

Roger
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Required in Chicago for plenum ceilings along with flexible metal tubing (Article 360)...one of the few places you ever see flexible metal tubing
Click to expand...
That’s kinda weird combination! Many years ago we wired a mall in Charleston, SC, I believe, and they would not allow MC cable. Doesn’t Chicago also require houses to be wired in type ac or mc type wiring method? NM not allowed?
 
hillbilly1 said:
Maybe the inspector was talking about this? Still wouldn’t make it compliant. (Picture of a 1900 box)
Click to expand...

Why would anybody even think to use a plastic box in a return air space??

hillbilly1 said:
Doesn’t Chicago also require houses to be wired in type ac or mc type wiring method? NM not allowed?
Click to expand...

Not quite! They require EMT!!

-Hal
 
Last edited:
infinity said:
Is a space above the ceiling used for a return air really a plenum?
Click to expand...
No, in that it is not constructed for the primary purpose of routing air, but the code explicitly applies some plenum rules to those "other environmental air" spaces.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
hbiss said:
Why would anybody even think to use a plastic box in a return air space??



Not quite! They require EMT!!

-Hal
Click to expand...
I did a house in emt, the electrician that the builder normally used couldn’t run conduit, so I did it as a favor. Not easy in wood construction. The home owner requested it because he wanted to be able to pull out any wire that might go “bad” and pull in new. LOL!
 
We had an EC on here many years ago from the Chicago area. We had this same discussion and he posted pictures of some of his residential rough-ins with EMT. He claimed that he could complete it almost as fast as someone else using NM. I believe multiple pulls and smart conduit routing eliminated a lot of individual NM runs.

Needless to say his work was a work of art.

-Hal
 
If I had to wire a house in EMT, there would be mostly single vertical runs and lots of J-boxes in the attic and crawl spaces.
 
infinity said:
Is a space above the ceiling used for a return air really a plenum?
Click to expand...
Thats what electricians call it, but the plenum is inside a metal air duct. NEC finally got it right a couple of code cycles ago and called it other space for environmental air. Just go to your wholesale house and ask for some "other space for environmental air" rated cable
 
tom baker said:
Thats what electricians call it, but the plenum is inside a metal air duct. NEC finally got it right a couple of code cycles ago and called it other space for environmental air. Just go to your wholesale house and ask for some "other space for environmental air" rated cable
Click to expand...
A plenum does not have to be metal or metal lined, although they often are. It just has to constructed separate from other spaces for the primary purpose of carrying air.
If you ran two partitions from a dropped ceiling to the structural ceiling to provide a narrow path down the middle of the room to which all the return air vents in the dropped ceiling were connected, you would arguably have constructed a plenum. But the entire undivided dropped ceiling space is not going to be a plenum, even if you used a metal ceiling. :)

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
hillbilly1 said:
I did a house in emt, the electrician that the builder normally used couldn’t run conduit, so I did it as a favor. Not easy in wood construction. The home owner requested it because he wanted to be able to pull out any wire that might go “bad” and pull in new. LOL!
Click to expand...

I was called to a condo where the owners wanted to separate the bathroom vanity light from the bath fan. They were wired together. I was imagining having to tear up the drywall to accomplish this, but when I opened the switchbox I was amazed to see it was piped with ENT. Using the ground as a string, I just pulled in a single additional conductor and a replacement ground then replaced the switch with a double switch. Voila!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top