Industrial Lighting

[Neschenbrenner001]

Hi,

I have a question for someone on here with more experience and knowledge of the nec than me. Ok so we added onto our shop at work and one of the guys i work with did the lighting in the new space. Well what he did was attach 4 runs of 4 lights parallel to each other to the ceiling. Then he ran 2 runs of conduit down the middle of the lights each with 8 outlets to plug the lights in. The lights are two bulb florescent with a cord and plug like you would hang over a bench. Now i don't know if this is right or wrong i just don't think it looks very good with cords hanging everywhere. All other lights in the building are hardwired with conduit to the fixture. Just looking for some opions on this.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Milton Shaw]

Most of those lights have to have air space over fixture for cooling of the ballast. And yes it's tacky to run them that way instead of wired with conduit and high temp wire correctly through the fixtures like you are saying the others are run.

 

[Falcon67]

Well - I think that hard wired is cleaner looking. But it is more work up front and more work to service the fixture. You can zip tie up the cords and maybe make it look better. Also, if a cord/plug fixture goes out it's a quick R&R to replace. I think this is only an astetic issue and not an NEC.

 

[Grazz256]

We do that with high-bay type lights so if you need to change the ballast you can easilly drop the light and do it on the ground rather then trying to pull it apart on a 20ft ladder.

 

[Aceman]

Just looking for some opions on this.

Hire someone qualified next time to do the work instead of letting a shop guy do it illegally with no inspections....

That's usually a good start.

There's a difference between DIY'ing at home versus doing it at work.

 

[ptschram]

Hire someone qualified next time to do the work instead of letting a shop guy do it illegally with no inspections....

That's usually a good start.

There's a difference between DIY'ing at home versus doing it at work.

Wow, a mind reader. How did you know the shop guy isn't an IBEW journeyman???

NEC would allow for just that sort of install and as it was a corded fixture, it is the correct way to do it.

 

[Aceman]

Wow, a mind reader. How did you know the shop guy isn't an IBEW journeyman???

Since I'm a mind reader, I know he wouldn't have asked the question if his shop guy was actually an electrician. He'd know the shop guy aka electrician knew what he was doing....

 

[nehog]

Nothing wrong with that installation (mine are done that way, they are corded fixtures) and it does make maintenance easier as mentioned above.

 

[ambenz]

I have two 8 footers hardwired and will "NEVER" do that again!
4 footers with cords and outlets with banks of switches to multiple outlets.
Change up the footprint of your work area, no problem, just move the fixture and plug it in over there!
They make channels that you can run the cord to the light for that clean look.
Yes, give me movable 4 footers any day of the year!!!!

 

[Greatbear]

Nothing wrong with that type of installation as long as the fixtures are rated for the installation method, i.e. if the fixtures were mounted on the ceiling surface, they must be designed for that mounting. You can't take a fixture designed for hanging only and modify it by surface mounting it. It could overheat or malfunction. Pigtailing fixtures allows repairs or upgrades to be done much easier.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I didn't catch the fact it was in a business until I read Aceman's thread and then went back and re-read the OP. While doing stuff like this in your own shop is quite OK, many localities require that businesses use licensed electricians and have permits for such things. Too much at stake with a business, and there could be insurance and liability issues if something were to happen.

Charles

 

[Mike14k]

Yep...... Sounds like a low-bid deal.

 

[kngelv]

We do that with high-bay type lights so if you need to change the ballast you can easilly drop the light and do it on the ground rather then trying to pull it apart on a 20ft ladder.

Agreed. Hopefully he was smart enough to use a Twist-Lock.

James

 

[trainer]

I would do this in a rented space, as the fixtures are then not techincally part of the building and could easily be removed and taken when the shop is vacated.

I've seen ceiling fans installed in this manner by a professional electrician and there were no problems with inspection.

 

[ptschram]

Sigh. In VERY few industrial situations will a company hire a contractor to do something as mundane as hang light fixtures-unless their maintenance crew is so overwhelmed doing their other, production oriented jobs.

In the nearly 20 years I spent in industry, I don't think I ever saw a permit pulled for such work, even when the work was being done by resident union electrical contractors. I know for a fact that I wrote an awful lot of work orders to have additional lighting installed and our maintenance crew did the work, including the bending and hanging of the conduit and wiring it all together.

I would much rather see this sort of installation than what I encountered way too often-extension cord to extension cord to extension cord to power lights over work stations.

 

[Grazz256]

Agreed. Hopefully he was smart enough to use a Twist-Lock.

James

Twist locks and a safety cable/chain just in case..