Re-identification of White Conductor

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roger said:
IMO, re-identifying these conductors is unnecessary in the first place.

Roger
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I agree. It's just another step in dummying down the Code so non-qualified persons are a bit more protected.

Anyone who is qualified will know that if there is an NM or MC cable with a black and a white conductors connected to a SP switch, both are ungrounded.
 
Here is a test I wrote a couple of years back.

Note; all scenarios are cable assemblies in normal 120/240 volt single phase residential installations and the white conductor is not re-identified.

Also note that the answers do not not necessarily have to be code compliant, (more than one answer might work too :wink:) the questions are dealing with whether an electrician would need the white conductor re-identified to know what it is doing per the scenarios.

Scenario #1 You open a box containing a single pole switch and find a white conductor and a black conductor from the same cable connected to the switch, an Electrician will know the white conductor is _______

(A) a hot conductor or switch leg
(B) an EGC
(C) a Grounded Conductor
(D) a High Leg

Scenario #2 You take a panel cover off and see a 2 conductor cable whose white conductor is connected to one pole of a multi-pole breaker and the black conductor of this cable is connected to the other pole, an Electrician will know this white conductor is being used for a _________

(A) Main Bonding Jumper
(B) GEC
(C) Grounded Conductor
(D) Hot Conductor

Scenario #3 You are trouble shooting a set of three-ways and see a white conductor connected to a terminal on the first switch you open, an Electrician would know this conductor would be a ________

(A) colored conductor that lost is pigment
(B) bleached and enriched wheat conductor
(C) skinny Caucasian guy
(D) traveler or hot conductor

Scenario #4 You open a light fixture box and find a 2 conductor cable whose white conductor is wire nutted to the blacks of the other cables in the box, the black conductor of this cable is connected to the fixture, an electrician would know this white conductor is________

(A) not a Bigot
(B) a Data Cable
(C) a hot conductor
(D) a piece of tie wire

Given the scenarios above, it is necessary to re-identify a white conductor used as a hot so that __________ will not be confused and spend the rest of the day scratching his/her head.

(A) an Electrician
(B) a fellow Electrician
(C) an Electrician working in FL
(D) a person that should not have their paws in these boxes in the first place.

IMO there is no reason for the requirement. :wink:


Roger
 
roger said:
............(D) a person that should not have their paws in these boxes in the first place.

IMO there is no reason for the requirement. :wink:


Roger
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Paws??? Not grubbies, or hooks, or mitts?

What about trained monkeys? Do they have paws? :grin:
 
roger said:
IMO, re-identifying these conductors is unnecessary in the first place.

Roger
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I agree. If you don't know that the white wire connected to a single pole switch is a hot conductor how is a piece of tape going to make you instantly realize what it is?
 
infinity said:
I agree. If you don't know that the white wire connected to a single pole switch is a hot conductor how is a piece of tape going to make you instantly realize what it is?
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Yes ditto to that!!! Are we switching the neutral? Whats a neutral? There is way too much of this crap going on!!!:D
 
I know you guys as an apprentice always instantly knew when a white wire was a part of switch loop during rough in or at time of device installation. Even when you weren't the one to rough it in. Most of the apprentices I worked with found it easier & quicker to make up boxes if they knew which one of those 4 white wires were the switch loop. When you open up a box during a remodel do you ignore where all those unmarked wires go or do you identify them in some way? Marking a wire as to its usage during installation does not dumb down the trade.
 
infinity said:
I agree. If you don't know that the white wire connected to a single pole switch is a hot conductor how is a piece of tape going to make you instantly realize what it is?
Click to expand...
Well, it might just be a breaker test station.:D

I say we change the code to have a descriptive Dymo label on every wire in every box so the non-qualified won't get confused when DIYing.:rolleyes:

Identification is only part of the story. Ever follow someone else's rough-in (or your own helper's)? You better know how to check the wiring, indentified or not.
 
I was always taught to wrap the wires in a switch box at make up and just push the wires back in a receptecale box.

Marking a white wire with some tape is not so you know what it's for, what about the guy that comes in behind you? Maybe he does something silly like disconnect everything and then forgets's that one of the whites was a hot and not a neutral.

I always marked as much of the wire as I could, I always figured that tape was cheap.
 
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