All,
Thank you all for helping me out. Now that this is running out of steam, I wanted to explain the reason for my post. This came up when a customer called me in to possibly replace another contractor. In the process of looking at the job, I pointed out that the previous contractor had done some things that violated the NEC. They were still in contact with the original contractor (who claimed his install was legal) and this became a test of wills between myself and the other contractor with the customer caught in between. That's when I came up with the idea of an independent review, and this Forum is full of great, knowledgeable professionals who provided just that. Fortunately for me, you have confirmed what I already knew, but I wanted to thank you all for the assist.
My take on the violations and hazards is this:
1) Violation of 400.7 and 400.8 for uses permitted and not permitted. The safety issue here in my mind is whether the improper connectors, which were very tight on the clamps, may have compromised the insulation. I did this once as an apprentice on Romex and the sparks flew.
2) Violation of 110.14 for termination of finely stranded conductors. Working with Navy ships, I have seen many failures of finely stranded wires in ordinary terminals. It is so common that ships are generally wired with "burn-back loops". This is an extra few feet of conductor in the panelboard that is used to cut-back burnt sections and re-terminate.
Anyway, thanks again for the impartial opinions.
This is a wonderful resource.
Mark
PS: Whenever I ask a question in a post here, I do my best to provide useful responses to at least 5 other posts to make sure I am contributing and not just taking.
