The Orange Conductor

[kwired]

one larger jurisdiction has a local Code that prohibits Orange for any use except high-leg 240/120.

Apparently they have never seen a "high leg" on anything but 240/120 systems. I can show you many 480/240 open delta systems with a high leg. (high leg operates around 415 to ground on those)

 

[hillbilly1]

I blame the way 110.15 is worded. "an outer finish that is orange in color or by other effective means".

It gives you permission for "other effective means" yet kind of says it is to be orange. I think many feel it must be orange just because of the way this article is written.

Marking the high leg seemed to commonly be done with red on a lot of older installations. I don't know how long the "orange" was in the NEC, but it often was the only marking on any of the phase conductors. Inspectors I run into would turn this down on a new installation, yet if it is the only marking on any of the phase conductors what is there that is not "effective"?

Probably red by mistake, we have a lot of them with the high leg on "C" phase too because they don't know to flip it to "B" after the meter. It's been Orange as long as I can remember, at least 30 years.