Wiring surface mounted junction boxes

[PT Doc]

I mounted qty 2 two gang weatherproof electrical boxes to a piece of aluminum plate. These boxes are connected with a ****** to one another. I’ll be mounting this whole assembly to my milling machine and will be bringing in power via SJ or SO cord that will be connected to a a few switched outlets. I like to wire the outlets separately off a common pigtail. I have a bunch of 14g Romex but no more THHN. I know it would work, but is using Romex with the sheath stripped off inside the boxes code compliant? If not why not? Plan is to bring the power into one box and then supply power to the 2 outlets in this box as well as run a wire to the next j box and then repeat the process again in this j box. By wiring each outlet separately, if something went south in the future, all of the outlets would not lose power as compared to if they were wired in series. We can discuss that this is not needed but that is what I am doing.
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Dagny]

No but I'm sure it is done thousands of times a year. If the romex is fairly new it contains thhn wire but it has no printing on it. Old romex has tw and tw lacks the nylon outer covering.

 

[Norcal]

Once the sheathing is stripped off NM cable, "Romex®" it is no longer a recognized wiring material by the NEC. The big box stores sell 100 foot rolls of THHN, so that it one option.

 

[ddawg16]

How much current is your mill pulling? The 14g might be an issue...assuming you want to stay compliant.

 

[Shiftless]

My local HD and my local ACE hardware sells that wire by the foot. Doesn’t yours? You’ve got a 20 amp circuit to that right? Go with 12 ga.

 

[PT Doc]

Once the sheathing is stripped off NM cable, "Romex®" it is no longer a recognized wiring material by the NEC. The big box stores sell 100 foot rolls of THHN, so that it one option.

So leaving a bit of sheathing makes this OK then?

 

[PT Doc]

How much current is your mill pulling? The 14g might be an issue...assuming you want to stay compliant.

This is just for the 120v accessories for the mill like 3 powerfeeds at 2 amps, DRO, LED light. I wanted to have 1 common 120v switch for all the accessories next to the switch for the 240v input into the RFC. Mill is 3 phase 5HP with power supplied by 10HP RFC.

 

[PT Doc]

My local HD and my local ACE hardware sells that wire by the foot. Doesn’t yours? Go with 12 ga.

Availability is not the issue. Just wondering when using Romex is no longer OK. Seems like keeping the sheath is needed. Makes sense since Romex sheathing is color coded.

 

[Shiftless]

Availability is not the issue. Just wondering when using Romex is no longer OK. Seems like keeping the sheath is needed. Makes sense since Romex sheathing is color coded.

I’m not a sparky, but it is my understanding that running Romex inside EMT for what you described is OK.
A more qualified response quoting NEC sections might be coming in shortly.

 

[Bert_]

I'd strip it and use it without a second thought. We know it's thhn, just isn't printed on the jacket.

 

[pbon]

It will work fine but isn’t code compliant.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I've got a confession to make:
I strip the insulation off of NM and use it for jumpers between recps. and switches in the same box all of the time without a single thought.

 

[PT Doc]

Thank you to all. Will proceed as planned. Thanks again.

 

[theoldwizard1]

My local HD and my local ACE hardware sells that wire by the foot.

I needed 1' of red #10 for a small job. The guy at HD gave me 3' for the price of 1' !

 

[CJ7VFR]

I've got a confession to make:
I strip the insulation off of NM and use it for jumpers between recps. and switches in the same box all of the time without a single thought.

I do the same all the time, as well as creating pigtails for wiring receptacles and switches to NM-B coming into boxes.

Once the sheathing is stripped off NM cable, "Romex®" it is no longer a recognized wiring material by the NEC. The big box stores sell 100 foot rolls of THHN, so that it one option.

What do electricians do when they pigtail wires off of receptacles to join them to the main wiring inside boxes? Are they buying individual THHN wire to create pigtails because stripping individual wires out of NM-B is not to code?

Or are they stripping out the individual wires from NM-B and using them, even though they are not working to code as you say?

Jim

 

[benjamintmiller]

Surely electricians remove the outer sheath and use individual romex wires for pigtails?!?

I have done this many times and never had a building inspector care. One of them even asked me to do this for the rough inspection.

 

[matt_i]

I feel like the solid wire makes better connections to a wrap-around pressure screw. The stranded wire typically works well where there's a a wrap-around lug.

Using the stranded wire on a wrap-around pressure screw...too easy for it to spit out as it gets tighter.

 

[Mr. T]

I’ll be mounting this whole assembly to my milling machine and will be bringing in power via SJ or SO cord that will be connected to a a few switched outlets.

I don’t think the NEC has a ton to say on this situation. You are making a fancy extension cord essentially.

I’d say that if you’re comfortable with it, go for it.

 

[PT Doc]

I don’t think the NEC has a ton to say on this situation. You are making a fancy extension cord essentially.

I’d say that if you’re comfortable with it, go for it.

Seems like the point of the original question often gets lost after reading through the responses that go off in various directions. The original question was is there an issue with using Romex wires that have the outer sheathing removed. The answer was that because the internal wires are not individually labeled, that it’s not correct. Plenty of inspectors do not have an issue with this but it’s good for everyone to be aware.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Seems like the point of the original question often gets lost after reading through the responses that go off in various directions. The original question was is there an issue with using Romex wires that have the outer sheathing removed. The answer was that because the internal wires are not individually labeled, that it’s not correct. Plenty of inspectors do not have an issue with this but it’s good for everyone to be aware.

I would like to know what the actual electricians on this forum have to say about this?

Do they do it, and violate some part of the NEC code, if it is an actual violation? Or do they get individual THHN wire to create pigtails and other connections like the OP is asking about to keep everything up to code?

Jim

 

[brewchief]

I would like to know what the actual electricians on this forum have to say about this?



Do they do it, and violate some part of the NEC code, if it is an actual violation? Or do they get individual THHN wire to create pigtails and other connections like the OP is asking about to keep everything up to code?



Jim

I think 99% of electricians will use stripped romex for pigtails like that. What I don't think would fly would be stripping the romex and then using the wire inside as thhn at a higher amp rating than it was used in the romex.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Mr. T]

The original question was is there an issue with using Romex wires that have the outer sheathing removed.

Yes, but what he’s using those wires for (not his premises wiring, which people seem to be ignoring) makes a big difference when asking the question of whether or not it is code compliant and what section, if any, of the NEC applies.

I would say that this particular use is in a bit of a grey area as far as the NEC is concerned.