The Electrical Code

Labeled. What’s in a label, well to start it tells us if there is danger, if its safe, to turn it on, to leave it off. Simple right. The code tells use to label panels to describe where the breakers go and what is the main breaker. The code tells use to describe if the panel is rated for what type of voltage. How many amps the panel can handle. And so much more. And this is just a panel. All electrical devices have a label. And on the label it tells us how much power(watts) that device uses, how many volts are required to use the device. Model, serial, HP, and so much more depending on the complexity of the device.

“Equipment or materials to which has been attached a label, symbol, or other identifying mark of an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with product evaluation, that maintains periodic inspection of production of labeled equipment or materials, and by whose labeling the manufacturer indicates compliance with appropriate standards or performance in a specified manner. (CMP-1)”

Lighting Outlet. This is used in situations where the builder does not install ceiling lighting. And lighting for that room comes from a standing floor light. It can be controlled by a switch by the door. Or the light can be operated by means of a pull string or what ever device on the fixture.

“An outlet intended for the direct connection of a lampholder or luminaire. (CMP-18)”

Lighting Track (Track Lighting). Very popular in the 80’s where there people installed lighting that need to angle to a wall picture, or just general lighting. Still used today but not as much. Today there are track lighting fixtures with LED’s and they last a very long time. They are very versatile and interchangeable.

“A manufactured assembly designed to support and energize luminaires that are capable of being readily repositioned on the track. Its length can be altered by the addition or subtraction of sections of track. (CMP-18)”

Listed. The authority having jurisdiction creates a list so that the contractor, or home owner need to follow. And sometime it’s for good reason, especially if the install needs to look like a previous job.

“Equipment, materials, or services included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with evaluation of products or services, that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evaluation of services, and whose listing states that either the equipment, material, or service meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose. (CMP-1)
Informational Note: The means for identifying listed equipment may vary for each organization concerned with product evalua‐ tion, some of which do not recognize equipment as listed unless it is also labeled. Use of the system employed by the listing organization allows the authority having jurisdiction to identify a listed product.”

Live Parts. Live parts does not Nessa fly mean a device that is energized and working. Even when the device is turned off the device still has inertia and could need time to stop mechanical parts.

“Energized conductive components. (CMP-1)”

Location, Damp. This is where rain water is not direct, but rather rain water is redirected via a roof or tarp of some type.

“Locations protected from weather and not subject to saturation with water or other liquids but subject to moderate degrees of moisture. (CMP-1)
Informational Note: Examples of such locations include partially protected locations under canopies, marquees, roofed open porches, and like locations, and interior locations subject to moderate degrees of moisture, such as some basements, some barns, and some cold-storage warehouses.”

Location, Dry. A place where rain, or dampness, does not enter the space in question.

“A location not normally subject to dampness or wetness. A location classified as dry may be temporarily subject to dampness or wetness, as in the case of a building under construction. (CMP-1)”

Location Wet. A place where the probability of water is greater, materials used in these location need to resist allowing water to enter conduits, boxes, and so on. It’s common sense not to allow water entire these areas because water as we know can be conductive and can cause a short.

“Installations underground or in concrete slabs or masonry in direct contact with the earth; in locations subject to saturation with water or other liquids, such as vehicle wash‐ ing areas; and in unprotected locations exposed to weather. (CMP-1)”

Luminaire. Basically a light right, the code wants to encompass the whole thing. Soup to nuts.

“A complete lighting unit consisting of a light source such as a lamp or lamps, together with the parts designed to position the light source and connect it to the power supply. It may also include parts to protect the light source or the ballast or to distribute the light. A lampholder itself is not a luminaire. (CMP-18)”

Mobile Equipment. Installation of power in these situation becomes a tricky. Wire does not like to bend. Mobile units shake and bounce, this movement is not favorable to conductor(wires). Over time even the best installed system can see complications due to vibration. Eventually failing.

“Equipment with electrical components suitable to be moved only with mechanical aids or is provided with wheels for movement by person(s) or powered devices. (CMP-14)”

Motor Control Center. When operating a piece of equipment it becomes crucial to bring all the controls to one location so that when the situation arises the operator can stop, slow down, make adjustments to the equipment. Much like an car. There aren’t two drivers.

“An assembly of one or more enclosed sections having a common power bus and principally containing motor control units. (CMP-11)”

Multioutlet Assembly. A good example that relates to this is a power strip. And this is covered in the code because of the chance for fire is greater here from people plugging multiple things into a power strip and causing it to fail, or whore burning things.

“A type of surface, flush, or freestanding raceway designed to hold conductors and receptacles, assembled in the field or at the factory. (CMP-18)”

Neutral Conductor. Most important to have is your neutral. It bring the electrical energy back. Actual when taking apart a neutral with the power on there is I bigger chance of bodily harm when handling an open neutral. The electrical potential is greater because if there is a device plugged into that circuit all the amps that are returning want to go through how ever it can, even if its through you.

“The conductor connected to the neutral point of a system that is intended to carry current under normal conditions. (CMP-5)”

Neutral Point. This is used when installing a transformer. It’s were the neutral is connected to. The electrical energy comes back to that point.

“The common point on a wye-connection in a polyphase system or midpoint on a single-phase, 3-wire system, or midpoint of a single-phase portion of a 3-phase delta system, or a midpoint of a 3-wire, direct-current system. (CMP-5)
Informational Note: At the neutral point of the system, the vectorial sum of the nominal voltages from all other phases within the system that utilize the neutral, with respect to the neutral point, is zero potential.”

Nonautomatic. If this isn’t self explanatory I don’t know what is. Not to be automatic but manual. Like a manual transmission, in a car or truck like the rest of the world drives cars. Like changing the channel on your TV. Like opening the door to your house with a key. Manual.

“Requiring human intervention to perform a function. (CMP-1)”

Nonconductive Optical Fiber Cable. Is there glass that is conductive? Just in case you didn’t know fiber optic cable comes with other conductors with it in the assembly of the cable. Meaning its possible that if you bring fiber along with 120 volt 14 AWG cable you will be able to feed voltage down that conductor to a device. Now fiber can go along way with out a repeater, and electricity can not. Voltage drop starts to accrue at 52 feet with 12 AWG. When calculating for this we need to size the wire accordingly.

“A factory assembly of one or more optical fibers having an overall covering and containing no electrically conductive materials. (CMP-16)”

Nonincendive Circuit [as applied to Hazardous (Classified) Locations]. We need to be aware of situation that permit arching, like in a setting that does not have flammable environment. We do this by eliminating any chance of arching.

“A circuit, other than field wiring, in which any arc or thermal effect produced under intended operating conditions of the equipment, is not capable, under specified test conditions, of igniting the flammable gas–air, vapor–air, or dust–air mixture. (CMP-14)
Informational Note: Conditions are described in ANSI/ ISA-12.12.01-2013, Nonincendive Electrical Equipment for Use in Class I and II, Division 2, and Class III, Divisions 1 and 2 Hazardous (Classified) Locations.”

Nonincendive Component [as applied to Hazardous (Classi‐ fied) Locations]. Much like the definition from before when addressing these environments equipment needs to be designed for those applications. Regardless of expense. All it takes is one life and this probably be classifies as murder in most states.

“A component having contacts for making or breaking an incendive circuit and the contacting mechanism is constructed so that the component is incapable of igniting the specified flammable gas–air or vapor–air mixture. The housing of a nonincendive component is not intended to exclude the flammable atmosphere or contain an explosion. (CMP-14)
Informational Note: For further information, see ANSI/ ISA-12.12.01-2013, Nonincendive Electrical Equipment for Use in Class I and II, Division 2, and Class III, Divisions 1 and 2 Hazardous (Classified) Locations.”

Nonincendive Equipment [as applied to Hazardous (Classified) Locations]. This further elaborates what was explained before and must remain critical to how things get assembled.

“Equipment having electrical/electronic circuitry that is incapable, under normal operating conditions, of caus‐ ing ignition of a specified flammable gas–air, vapor–air, or dust–air mixture due to arcing or thermal means. (CMP-14) Informational Note: For further information, see ANSI/ ISA-12.12.01-2013, Nonincendive Electrical Equipment for Use in Class I and II, Division 2, and Class III, Divisions 1 and 2 Hazardous (Classified) Locations.”

Nonincendive Field Wiring [as applied to Hazardous (Classi‐ fied) Locations]. We don’t to be the person responsible for causing the death or bodily harm of anyone who makes mistakes. The code dos not allow this to happen if following it to the letter. So as before we shall make it a priority not to make it possible to have electrical arch in flammable conditions.

“Wiring that enters or leaves an equipment enclosure and, under normal operating conditions of the equipment, is not capable, due to arcing or thermal effects, of igniting the flammable gas–air, vapor–air, or dust–air mixture. Normal operation includes opening, shorting, or grounding the field wiring. (CMP-14)”

Nonincendive Field Wiring Apparatus [as applied to Hazardous (Classified) Locations]. Equipment wiring that comes from or goes to that will not arch or become hot enough to ignite what ever it’s surrounded by.

“Apparatus intended to be connected to nonincendive field wiring. (CMP-14)
Informational Note: For further information, see ANSI/ ISA-12.12.01-2013, Nonincendive Electrical Equipment for Use in Class I and II, Division 2, and Class III, Divisions 1 and 2 Hazardous (Classified) Locations.”

Nonlinear Load. To try to understand this with out an electrical background is close to impossible. So when we compare two states, amp, and voltage, we can see that one might be directly correlated or one might be opposing to the other.

“A load where the wave shape of the steady- state current does not follow the wave shape of the applied voltage. (CMP-1)
Informational Note: Electronic equipment, electronic/electric discharge lighting, adjustable-speed drive systems, and similar equipment may be nonlinear loads.”

Oil Immersion [as applied to Hazardous (Classified) Loca‐ tions]. I have seen this in transformers that not only use the liquid to stall arching affects but also cool the equipment by circulating it through the equipment. At any rate the liquid does not allow the arching to make contact with the atmosphere.

“Electrical equipment immersed in a protective liquid in such a way that an explosive atmosphere that may be above the liquid or outside the enclosure cannot be ignited. (CMP-14)”

Optical Fiber Cable. Making reference to the cable that uses light to relay a signal to a receiver. This pulse of lights is sent or read by the device at either end and translated so that a computer can understand it.

“A factory assembly or field assembly of one or more optical fibers having an overall covering. (CMP-16)
Informational Note: A field-assembled optical fiber cable is an assembly of one or more optical fibers within a jacket. The jacket, without optical fibers, is installed in a manner similar to conduit or raceway. Once the jacket is installed, the optical fibe”

Outlet. This definition is pretty straight forward. Later on in the code book the will dive into this a little deeper and give us more information about these devices.

“A point on the wiring system at which current is taken to supply utilization equipment. (CMP-1)”

Outline Lighting. I will link this definition when it shows up in the Code book.

“An arrangement of incandescent lamps, electric-discharge lighting, or other electrically powered light sources to outline or call attention to certain features such as the shape of a building or the decoration of a window. (CMP-18)”

Overcurrent. This is why we are here, because we want to stop this from happening. Breakers stop this from happening, wire is tested and designed to hold, for the duration of its life span, the current the device is designed to use

“Any current in excess of the rated current of equipment or the ampacity of a conductor. It may result from overload, short circuit, or ground fault. (CMP-10)
Informational Note: A current in excess of rating may be accom‐ modated by certain equipment and conductors for a given set of conditions. Therefore, the rules for overcurrent protection are specific for particular situations.”

Overcurrent Protective Device, Branch-Circuit. Breakers, all types of fuses, fusible link(can be recognized as a fuse put it has metal to open the circuit), TL(better know as a screw in fuse or medium duty fuse). All these fuses have different materials from metals to ceramic. There is a fuse specifically made for the neutral. I will probably make a blog for each type of fuse ever made.

“A device capable of providing protection for service, feeder, and branch circuits and equipment over the full range of overcurrents between its rated current and its interrupting rating. Such devices are provided with interrupting ratings appropriate for the intended use but no less than 5000 amperes. (CMP-10)”

Overcurrent Protective Device, Supplementary. These overcurrent devices are intended to protect internal wiring and components of equipment.

“A device intended to provide limited overcurrent protection for specific applications and utilization equipment such as luminaires and appliances. This limited protection is in addition to the protection provided in the required branch circuit by the branch-circuit overcurrent protective device. (CMP-10)”

Overload. This type of situation happens when there is a problem with the operation of the equipment. For example a fan pulling air through a air filter, and the filter is over due to be changed we can see over amp and overload situations. The equipment has overload devices that over see thermal temperatures and open when it reaches those temperatures. Amperage equals heat.

“Operation of equipment in excess of normal, full-load rating, or of a conductor in excess of rated ampacity that, when it persists for a sufficient length of time, would cause damage or dangerous overheating. A fault, such as a short circuit or ground fault, is not an overload. (CMP-10)”