Residential Wiring Practices

[eprice]

The plumbers around here tell me they like to get their plumbing in and inspected before the electricians come in. That way, the pipes still hold water for inspection

 

[Inspectorcliff]

I guess it all on how we are raised in the trade. A guy who taught me when I was an apprentice made me go back on a 80 foot run of 14/2 and get all of the twist out of the wire and make sure it laid flat on the wood.

I have been down that road!!!! BUT, it was quite a few week-end's ago..

 

[jetlag]

diag in attic

diag in attic

So does everyone who runs NM in stud walls plumb, square and horizontal only do the same in the attic? When you come up from the switch, do you run it across the rafters straight out, until it's inline with the ceiling fan and then over? How about underground as well? Is that all square with the street and house?

I was sure I read in code where you cant run nm diag across joists in the attic, but I cant find it now. Does any one know of this code? I always run diag in attic. I figured the code was so wire would not exceed the 4.5 ft support limit , but that be would a pretty steep angle, probably over 60 deg

 

[George Stolz]

Perhaps you are thinking of 334.23 or 334.15?

 

[Coyote]

So you guys would consider these overly neat and wasteful?

To me, it wouldn't have taken any longer to do it sloppily.

If these are not 2X6 studs I would think that you are pushing the limits where you ran behind the box. Errant drywall screw would be a real problem IMHO.

Dave

 

[haskindm]

Hmmm....

Is it your view you can force some one to work 'off the clock' as a condition of employment?

Not happening where I am, that would be a quick call to the DOL.

I often voluntarily work beyond my paid hours but no employer can force me to work for free as a condition of keeping my job.

I think that stopped in the US back with in Henry Ford's time.

Iwire,
Have you heard of an "exempt employee". Your employer can classify you as management and exempt. What you are exempt from is FLSA which means that you do NOT have to be paid overtime. Government contractors around here use the term "Uncompensated Overtime" and it is indeed a condition of employment for many jobs. I have been "fortunate" enough to be classified as exempt for the last 15 years or so....

 

[iwire]

Your employer can classify you as management and exempt. What you are exempt from is FLSA which means that you do NOT have to be paid overtime.

No they can not do that without my going allowing with it. I would have to agree to accepting salery....which I will likely never do even though it has been proposed to me a few times.

Hourly employees must be compensated for their time.

 

[wamegojim]

I have worked in varous places around the country. Kansas, Mississippi, California, and North Carolina. We usually were at right angles in all those locales. It was pretty rare to see something on a diagonal unless a box got moved or the hole was drilled in the wrong spot. I will have to mention I have even seen conduit run on the diagonal. I made that "electrician" redo that work.:smile:

 

[dab]

spiderwebbing

spiderwebbing

what about having to protect the cable by substantial guard strips. running in a neat and orderly manner makes less work. this is assuming that anyone still puts 1 by 2's in attic run cables

 

[Ernest Schwarz]

Workmanship like manor......

Workmanship like manor......

I was taught many years ago in the late 70's to be proud of every job whether the work is seen or unseen. I was taught to run the wires in a straight line to reduce scarffing the jacket on romex when pulling through wood studs. The only place the an angular run was permitted was when a switch is on the same wall as the recepticle it controlled. Then only a single run of 2 or 3 wire romex was permitted to be run on an angle. all straight lines unseen or seen. Nothing that appeared to be less than "workmanship like manor" would be accepted.

Insulators had to just deal with our runs just like they had to deal with the plumbers pipes and HVAC ducts. Every trade had to accommodate the other but insulation was not worried about as the other trades cost more to complete their jobs and use less material.

today that training pays off as when a new service panel is installed to replace an existing one, the length, type and entry point of each and every wire or conduit is considered.......which makes the final product visually pleasing.

 

[Minuteman]

I was taught many years ago in the late 70's to be proud of every job whether the work is seen or unseen.

Ernest - sounds like you are consciences about your work. Welcome to the Forum.

 

[iaov]

I think most electricians are closet artists , and even if our work will eventualy be hidden we like knowing that it looks good. Wire going at angles across studs, IMHO does not look good.

 

[acrwc10]

The benefit would be a house wired to code...If the extra time for us to do it neat raises the home prices then why do we in St Louis have one of the lowest cost of living...

Probably because you are so busy admirring your work you don't have time to do anything else, like spend money, causing a demand for goods and services , raising the cost of living

Seriously, who determans neat?? I have seen lots of neat and substandard work. Taking the time to go back and take out every twist in an 80' run of 14 NM is absurd. I think you should spend more time on how far a run of 14NM is good for before you need to derate it. Nice but how many houses can you get done in a year if you waist your time like that? One NM per drilled hole? Please, is that better then 2 or 3 NMs per hole ? We wire lots of Large custom house and no one has ever accused us of being "hacks". And for the record I don't take every little twist out of the NM as it pays off the roll. I would rather leave the job within a reasonable time frame with my sanity.

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

If you use a spinner, you wouldn't have any twists to remove. You can build a spinner (I used to use 4-6 spinners simultaniously) with 2 2x4 scraps. Make an upside-down T. Affix a piece of metal lumber bandstrap leaving a "loop" at the top of the upside down T. Slide a brass keychain swivel clip over the bandstrap to hang the spinner. Throw a roll of NM over the T, and hang it in the garage threshold. As you pull the NM it will unspin and pay off the cable w/o any twists.

 

[stickboy1375]

Taking the time to go back and take out every twist in an 80' run of 14 NM is absurd.

The wire actually comes flat, your putting the twists in it... were not taking them out...

 

[angryhalfinch]

Are We talking about running diagonal just to save wire? Because you can't tell Me you never had to because of, say, the way a wall was made or the header of a door or something conflicting the path of the wire. Or for that matter, let's say you had no choice to run your wire down through a top plate on one side of a stud, because of duct work or something, but then you had to get to your box on the other side of that same stud. I would much rather drill that hole at a 15 degree angle, or the like, instead of bending that wire at two 90 degree angles in an 1 1/2 space.

 

[splinetto]

We wire lots of Large custom house and no one has ever accused us of being "hacks".

Large or small they all should receive "neat work" the problem is some people don't know what neat is...

 

[splinetto]

It sounds like that some people dont even use spin boards ....Is that true?

 

[andinator]

It is indeed.:grin: I like spinners but when I was piece working I'd toss several rolls of 12 & 14 on the ground at their homerun destination and pull them all at once to the panel....OOOHHHH the insanity:grin:

 

[mdshunk]

It sounds like that some people dont even use spin boards ....Is that true?

I had a helper once upon a time that rolled several rolls down the hillside behind the home under construction. He looked like a pro bowler. It was beautiful, and worked out well that day.