Electrical Code Question: Wire Routing

[BJ42LX]

Tl;dr: Does it violate electrical code to coil up an extra 12 feet of wire and staple it up into the rafters?

I'm installing a small electrical heater in the basement. 30 amp breaker with 10 ga wire.

I'm don't know where the best place is for the heater to get the best circulation. I'm going to install it in a corner and see how it works. If the circulation isn't good I'll move it to a more central location.

I bought a 50 ft coil of 10/2. For the initial install I'm leaving about 12 feet of wire coiled up tucked and stapled up in the rim joist area. If I decide to move the heater I'll uncoil the wire and re-position the heater. If I decide to leave the heater in the corner can I leave the coil of wire up in the rafters or do I have to unwind it and cut the wire to length?

I've seen loops take up an extra foot or two of slack, but never 12 feet.

 

[katy]

You can't leave the extra cable coiled up. If you want to leave it in w/out cutting it you'll have to zig-zag it or run it all around the rafters so it's not touching itself. The more spacing the better.

 

[dave67fd]

Why not just put in a handy box? If you relocate, just tap into the box with a new piece.

 

[rockwithjason]

as long as the bundle is strapped every 4 ft it is not a violation. spiral it across a couple of rafters and staple it down.

 

[Cmreschke]

I would try to figure 8 it if I had to have the slack, but I'm definitely in the junction box opinion. If you bundle it like a he you will create unnecessary heat in the cable with a possibly bad outcome. Figure 8 the slack to reduce or even possibly eliminate this extra heat.

 

[Norcal]

Why not just put in a handy box? If you relocate, just tap into the box with a new piece.

Anyone who uses handy boxes should be whipped with no mercy. As you may guess, I don't like them. Use a decently sized boxes and make everyone's life easier.

 

[Syberia]

A coil of wire with a high current through it will heat itself up due to induction and inability to breathe. Moreso than if the wire was arranged in some other fashion.

 

[sberry]

12 extra ft of wire wont hurt a thing stuffed up in the joist. No reason to start chopping wire and adding splices if you are not done yet.

 

[Falcon67]

Anyone who uses handy boxes should be whipped with no mercy. As you may guess, I don't like them. Use a decently sized boxes and make everyone's life easier.

Yea - but when the guy that wired your house strung the romex so tight it twangs in the treble clef, you end up with a few small boxes just to splice two stupid wires together. Adding a single flood on a corner of the house to the circuit that controlled the two lights on the front of the garage required two boxes.

 

[sberry]

Sheet happens, old work should be replaced with new. I was in Key West some years ago, was scared to touch anything metal. All old, or lots of old anyway **** didn't look safe from a distance.

 

[sberry]

I do most things twice especially the first time and a couple inches of wire is better than too short. It doesn't always look as neat but it isn't bundled and most of this gang is rather conservative, as one guy said I an earlier thread, a 20A circuit with 2 leds on it, the issues with bundling with this hot 10 wire,,, if it was hot is pretty moot. A few ft of wire in an orderly fashion is not a great risk especially if there is a potential for it to be re assigned in the near future.

 

[sberry]

Having some movement early on is a good thing. A lot of home brew and even some pro designed schemes really don't always turn out like they were envisioned. That's the beauty of diy and being your own installer/service man,,, you can change your world, sometimes fast, some slow.

 

[dave67fd]

Anyone who uses handy boxes should be whipped with no mercy. As you may guess, I don't like them. Use a decently sized boxes and make everyone's life easier.

My point was to use a box and not have a rats nest in the rafters or walls.
I'd probably use a 4" square box anyway....And nobody gives two shits if you don't like them.

 

[Alan Douglas]

A coil of wire with a high current through it will heat itself up due to induction

The magnetic field from the two wires cancels if they run in the same cable.

 

[sberry]

Why worry a guy, the simple answer is it wont hurt a thing and is done all the time. Even a little loss from extra wire is moot as we are running heater anyway. Wait till you figure out where the exact final location will be, still leave a foot or 2.
While yall can fuss over boxes I don't go out of my way to add a splice to a good wire to a dedicated circuit, its part of the whole point, single wire from breaker to an outlet. Its ok for general use but really hack whemn you already have 12 extra ft of wire, this is true no matter how smart you are or home many masters one has or how neat and anally straight the wire is.
Same for adding these **** cheap disconnects to air comps.
I know its just me but dedicated to me doesn't mean extra Jbox and wire nuts.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Anyone who uses handy boxes should be whipped with no mercy. As you may guess, I don't like them. Use a decently sized boxes and make everyone's life easier.

handy boxes are anything but handy in my experience.I use a 4 square metal box and a plaster ring in place of them.

 

[akpolaris]

I got to ask this. What is the difference between a handy box and a single gang box??

 

[akpolaris]

bump

 

[Wirepuller]

I got to ask this. What is the difference between a handy box and a single gang box??

A handy box allows a switch or receptacle mounted directly to it with a cover plate on top of that. . A 4 square needs a mulberry cover, plaster ring for a device, or blank for a splice. A 4 square is larger and more versatile. Handy boxes are smaller and used less often. New construction I use them very rarely.

 

[Dagny]

rounded corners.

 

[RonRock]

12 extra ft of wire wont hurt a thing stuffed up in the joist. No reason to start chopping wire and adding splices if you are not done yet.

I'm not an electrician by any means. But I'd have to agree with this. Isn't there some leeway for temporary use? Seems way better to test and decide where the final position will be, before adding unnecessary splices and boxes.

 

[brook41]

Roll it up into a neat coil and tape it using electrical tape. When you finally decide on the location then terminate it. If you forget about it, make sure its finished before a home or electrical inspection.