Securing romex in conduit
Daniel Goscha
regular switch/duplex box, I secure the cable with a cable clamp (built-in
or otherwise). What about the case where I have conduit that attaches to
the switch/duplex box and the romex running through the conduit? If I have
this conduit attached to a box with no built-in cable clamp, can I just
leave the romex free (un-clamped)? I have not been able to find any
conduit fitting that allows me to attach the conduit to the box *and* clamp
the cable.
This seems a bit of a double standard. If I have the romex running to the
box in the wall cavity with no conduit, I need to clamp it with a cable
clamp. If I run the cable to the box through conduit -- i.e. when mounting
a fixture to the wall in an unfinished basement -- I do not need to clamp
it(?). Am I missing something here? Is there a conduit fitting that will
allow me to clamp the cable and the conduit at the same time?
Just to be explicityly clear, I am only using 12/2 and 12/3 regular romex,
nothing fancy.
Thanks,
-daniel
--
Daniel Goscha
NCSA / University of Illinois
Harry
If running through a conduit, there should be no stress on the wire, so it
need not be clamped.
H
"Daniel Goscha" <dgo...@uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:5X6f8.24097$tg4.2...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu...
TakeThisOut
conduit is the raceway and wiring method.
A conduit "sleeve" is a different story.
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TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com
Harry
news:20020227162318...@mb-ba.aol.com...
> Romex is a cable. Cables are not approved for installing inside conduit,
where
> conduit is the raceway and wiring method.
>
> A conduit "sleeve" is a different story.
Well, this is not to start an argument, just to educate myself. I'm
certain that I've seen cable within what I think is conduit. A licensed
electrician ran an outside line for me to a vertical retaining wall. He
used UF cable from the box, underground, into a plastic pipe (conduit?), and
into the box. If this is not to code, please tell me how it should have
been done.
Thanks!
H
Goedjn
It isn't quite true that you're not allowed to
put romex in conduit... It's just that there are
some fairly complicated rules for when you are
supposed to do it, (mostly hinging on what is
meant by "exposed to damage), and more rules
adjusting what size cable, and what size conduit,
etc. ad. nauseum.
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
>
>Semantics aside (what is/isn't conduit, etc.) if I have romex coming into a
>regular switch/duplex box, I secure the cable with a cable clamp (built-in
>or otherwise). What about the case where I have conduit that attaches to
>the switch/duplex box and the romex running through the conduit?
Legalities of running Romex through conduit aside...
Romex must be clamped where it enters *SOMETHING*. Usually, that SOMETHING
is a box. If it enters a conduit then travels through the conduit to a box,
it needs to be clamped where it enters the conduit, NOT where it enters
the box.
The easiest way to do this is to get a female threaded coupler and screw
a threaded clamp in one end of it and a threaded conduit fitting in the
other. With PVC conduit, you can just screw a threaded clamp into a female
threaded fitting and cement it to the end of the conduit.
When doing this sort of transition, I strip the outer jacket of the Romex
from the clamp on to the box so that only its conductors are pulled through
the conduit.
--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam | "Nothing quite livens up a suburban
DAXaCK associates | neighbourhood like a driveway boasting
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada | plastic milk crates loaded with crap."
http://home.ica.net/~calvinhc | -- John Oakley, radio talk-show host
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Dan & Dee Griffin
I assume conduit is EMT (electrical metallic tubing), a thin walled metal
pipe that can be bent with a wheel bender. Bought as 1/2, 3/4, 1" or
greater sizes.
Conduit is installed into a punch-out hole in the side or back of a metal
rough-in box with the use of a box connector. The EMT should be strapped
within 12" on the box. Most commercial jobs are run in conduit. Stop and
look over something under construction.
Individual insulated wires are installed in the pipe, 3 wires per circuit
(power, neutral, ground) Do not run Romex or MC cable in conduit.
Romex and MC cable are their own "conduit" . Like Ragu, the wires are
already in there. Each has its own type of boxes and fittings. Most
residential is run in romex (plastic sleeved wires) or MC cable (a crinkle
walled metal jacket). Stop to look at something under construction.
The box connectors for EMT and MC cable are similar. Romex connectors for 4
square and handy boxes, which do not have the little clamp down bars in the
box, are similar. They all make to the box the same way, they all make to
their wiring system differently.
Even the home depot guy in the electrical department should be able to show
you some typical installation displays.
There are several books available about wiring. Sounds like you should
either hire an electrician or be willing to read a book. A newsgroup answer
cannot be clear enough, might not be accurate, etc. You're question scares
me. If you are this far from the terminology and systems, I don't think you
should be touching electrical wiring.
@@@@@@@@
Keep the whole world singing . . . . . . .
Dan & Dee Griffin
TakeThisOut
Usually in an outdoor installation, the conduit is only used to "sleeve" the UF
cable to protect it's above-ground locations. (Where it exits the house, and
where it feeds lights or outlets.) But the UF cable is directly buried in the
ground from point to point. This is normal and typical.
But to run conduit inside a home from box to box, romex is not used.
When pipe (emt) is used to "sleeve" a piece of romex down a wall to a box, or
through a concrete wall, it's just there to protect the cable. Typically the
pipe (emt) stops just above the outlet and the romex is exposed just enough
to enter the romex connector on the top of the box. Or- you can put a connector
on the top of the pipe (emt) to clamp the romex, and run the pipe right into
the box through an EMT connector.
Gilbert Smith
> I think you are mixing terms.
Specifically, which terms?
> I assume conduit is EMT (electrical metallic tubing), a thin walled metal
> pipe that can be bent with a wheel bender. Bought as 1/2, 3/4, 1" or
> greater sizes.
......not material to the OP' s question, but seems to me it could be thinwall,
or it could be flexible metal conduit, or it could be rigid nonmetallic, or it
could be flexible liquid-tight metallic, or flexible liquid-tight nonmetallic,
or.........
> Conduit is installed into a punch-out hole in the side or back of a metal
> rough-in box with the use of a box connector. The EMT should be strapped
> within 12" on the box. Most commercial jobs are run in conduit. Stop and
> look over something under construction.
>
> Individual insulated wires are installed in the pipe, 3 wires per circuit
> (power, neutral, ground) Do not run Romex or MC cable in conduit.
Why not...........? NEC says all nonmetallic sheathed cable must be protected
from physical damage.......overkill, but conduit sounds like good protection.
Does NEC prohibit running it in conduit?
> Romex and MC cable are their own "conduit" . Like Ragu, the wires are
> already in there. Each has its own type of boxes and fittings. Most
> residential is run in romex (plastic sleeved wires) or MC cable (a crinkle
> walled metal jacket). Stop to look at something under construction.
Don't know how MC got into the discussion......what about AC? The OP was
specific about Romex. Not to start an argument but I beg to diifer on the
"conduit" thing. Sheathed cables, metallic or nonmetallic, are in their own
"protective covering", not conduit. The sheath is there only to provide
resistance to physical damage, flame resistance, fungus resistance, corrosion
resistance, etc., depending on the type. A conduit can provide any or all of the
aforementioned, but is also a raceway for the installation or removal of the
conductors, which a sheath is not.
> The box connectors for EMT and MC cable are similar. Romex connectors for 4
> square and handy boxes, which do not have the little clamp down bars in the
> box, are similar. They all make to the box the same way, they all make to
> their wiring system differently.
>
> Even the home depot guy in the electrical department should be able to show
> you some typical installation displays.
>
> There are several books available about wiring. Sounds like you should
> either hire an electrician or be willing to read a book. A newsgroup answer
> cannot be clear enough, might not be accurate, etc. You're question scares
> me. If you are this far from the terminology and systems, I don't think you
> should be touching electrical wiring.
I don't think any book will answer the OP's question...........something not
addressed here.....seems to me posing the question to this ng is exactly why
we're here.
My $0.02 worth.......inasmuch as the individual conductors within a conduit
installation are not clamped, and individual conductors within a sheathed cable
assembly are not clamped, but rather the sheath is clamped, I do not see the
logic that romex in a conduit (conduit properly installed) would require
clamping. I remain open to enlightenment.