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An average day

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There's three piles of dirt. Heavy dirt too. So the plan for now is moving pile #3 to pile #2 position. Notice the wheelbarrow. It is the last wheelbarrow of a train of wheelbarrows. That's a big word..wheelbarrow. Wheel barrow operator sounds like an important position. Trust me on this... if you are wheeling a wheelbarrow, it's an important position to you.

There's a train of wheelbarrows waiting for the arrival of the roll-off bin. In the meantime they were moving dirt to earn their pay. That's putting the mean in meantime.


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A fellow inspector sent this with a request for the applicable NEC code section. (300.34)

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ICE said:
A fellow inspector sent this with a request for the applicable NEC code section. (300.34)

View attachment 13922
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I agree with you NEC section, appears to be a bending violation. Question, if you we're asked to calculate the bending what would this formula look like on this application?

Guessing shielded cable, 0.5x 12 the dia = 6

Anyone?
 
SCBO1 said:
I agree with you NEC section, appears to be a bending violation. Question, if you we're asked to calculate the bending what would this formula look like on this application?

Guessing shielded cable, 0.5x 12 the dia = 6

Anyone?
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The radius is 6" in your example.
 
So in the picture you posted it appears the radius is about 3-4-inches.

I have seen this done before and couldn't understand the thought process to leave the excess cable?

The zip-ties, now that's a new one, guess they need those to hold the coil together I would guess.
 
SCBO1 said:
I have seen this done before and couldn't understand the thought process to leave the excess cable?
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I've heard two explanations. One was that the POCO requires a "drip loop" and certain linemen don't consider it a loop if it doesn't make a complete circle. The other explanation was that it allows for future expansion or relocation flexibility.
 
Joe.B said:
I've heard two explanations. One was that the POCO requires a "drip loop" and certain linemen don't consider it a loop if it doesn't make a complete circle. The other explanation was that it allows for future expansion or relocation flexibility.
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Never heard either of those. Have never seen circles before.
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wwhitney said:
Not a violation of 300.34, as that section only applies to conductors over 1000V, which I don't believe those are.

Cheers, Wayne
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You have pointed that out before. Didn't take did it. The conclusion is that the wire can be bent as tight as they can hammer it in? There are examples in the NEC where 300.34 is invoked for wire in 1000 volt or less installations... so I don't think it's a stretch when the wire is bent too tight.

There's dozens of code sections regulating wire bending space yet little on bending the wire. Every cable has a bending code but not the individual wires. The code should do better.
 
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ICE said:
The conclusion is that the wire can be bent as tight as they can hammer it in?
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No, obviously you can't damage the conductor or its insulation, as per 300.4. But the informational note there says "Minor damage to a raceway, cable armor, or
cable insulation does not necessarily violate the integrity of either the contained conductors or the conductors’ insulation."

So you inspect the conductors and consider whether they have been damaged sufficiently to violate the integrity of the conductors or more likely the insulation. I'm not seeing any signs of the insulation cracking or being damaged in today's first photo. Whereas the wire at the bottom in today's second photo, or on the right side in today's third photo, those bend so tightly at the lug I would be concerned the conductors are damaged. Note that in the first photo the wire loop is kept well away from the lug and there is no sharp bend at the lug.

ICE said:
There are examples in the NEC where 300.34 is invoked for wire in 1000 volt or less installations
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Reference? I'm skeptical.

Cheers, Wayne
 
wwhitney said:
Reference? I'm skeptical.

Cheers, Wayne
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314.71(B)(!)

Exception No. 1: Where a conductor or cable entry is in the wall of a box opposite a removable cover, the distance from that wall to the cover shall be permitted to be not less than the bending radius for the conductor as provided in 300.34.
 
jar546 said:
You're going to make me miss living in the northeast!
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Almost feel bad for the property owner....Started with the tenant running the place out of oil at the beginning of single digit nights and ended with a bunch of violations when we got called by fire for the frozen exploded pipes....
 
I had a contractor at the counter filling out a form for a reroof permit. The individual was early thirties with a combative attitude. Straight up rude. He had quite a few jailhouse tattoos. He called me “boss”. As we went along he asked about any fine that would be imposed as code enforcement caught him doing the reroof without a permit. I said that, yes there is a fine. He wanted to know the amount to which I said, “That’s up to the judge”. That got his attention, “What do you mean a judge sets the amount?” “I have to go to court?”

The hook was set, time to land the shark,. I said, “Construction work without a permit is a felony in this city.” “And in your case it might be a third strike.” “Imagine that, life in prison for reroofing without a permit.”

I might have gotten slightly overboard with this one. He turned white and started to tremble. For a moment there I was going to let him pass all the way out.
That would have been mean so I pardoned him on the spot.
 
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I was holding a factory out of electrical service. The factory produced rolls of toilet paper. They feed 12' long 5'dia. rolls of paper into machines that spit out individual rolls of toilet paper. The amount of paper dust is astonishing.
When the machines are up to speed, the plume of dust reached the 42' high ceiling of a 250,000 square foot building. Dust was built up an inch thick on every surface. The factory was a year old when I was assigned to that city. They were on the second Coke machine in the break room and I saw them stocking it and you couldn't see the compressor for the paper packed around it. Neighboring businesses complained about their cars being coated.

I found loads of dust inside the switch-gear for two 2000 amp services. The scariest part was the bar trusses. An earthquake could shake the dust off the trusses and result in an explosion that would really upset the neighbors that were left.

The company was Chinese owned and the headquarters was located in Indonesia. This factory was their first foray in the American market. The equipment was mostly huge and made in Italy with no UL Listing. That was a big oops as there were permits and approvals with a Certificate Of Occupancy. Somebody had to tell Edison to fire up that 4000 amps.

Edison was losing a valued customer. The tilt-up building was new and owned by the largest warehouse owner in the area. I was just one of the two building inspectors and new to the city. The factory was shut down for months as ETL performed a field evaluation. The dust control equipment that would be required was in the millions. They fought tooth and nail to not put in dust control and instead rely on a cleaning crew.

The factory manager approached me with an offer disguised as a request that was a bribe. I was told that their company employs 300,000 people and has huge forests and factories in Indonesia. They wanted me to travel to Indonesia and tour their facilities. Ostensibly to get a better picture of the company. This was to be first class airfare and a five star hotel. All expenses paid for a month, two if I want.

I was single at that time and I had a load of vacation time on the books. Hell's Bells I accrued four weeks a year. Toss in sick time and ... well could we make it three months?
]
So I said no. That's when they upped the offer. He said, "You can have a different girl every night." To which I replied, "Just one?"
So I said no. I must say that the beginning of the bribe was wrong but that last part was just cruel.
 
ICE said:
So I said no. That's when they upped the offer. He said, "You can have a different girl every night." To which I replied, "Just one?"
So I said no. I must say that the beginning of the bribe was wrong but that last part was just cruel.
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Years ago I worked briefly as the chief (and only) staff architect for a municipal public housing agency. We had bids out for a design-build hosing project worth $13 million -- back when $13 million was more than lunch money. Word got back to us that there were attempts being made to "influence" the selection process, which (as staff architect) I controlled.

I told my boss she didn't have to worry about my being bought off. She asked why. I told her, "Because they offered me a Cadillac, and I really want a pickup truck."
 
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