Yesterday another electrician just about had a nervous breakdown when he found I was using a "Bell" box in an indoor location. Why, that was just WRONG!
Mind you, this was the same guy who, a few days ago, had lectured me that the NEC didn't matter, we had a "company" code and all that mattered was what the non-electrical qualified bosses said.
Why was I using such a box? I was using it for space. The box was to hold s timer. The timer was exactly the right size to fill a 'switch box,' with NO space left for the fittings; a handy box had room for the fittings, but no space for wires to exit the fittings.
From his comments, it was also clear that he saw no reason to provide the required pigtails in the box.
I won't get into box fill, except to note that code rules can use some improvement here. That big timer counts the same for box fill as the smallest toggle switch.
I told him that using an 'outdoor' box indoors wasn't a sin. That seemed to quiet him, though he was still unhappy.
I believe we need to reconsider the way we write rules.
Somehow a 'maximum' speed limit becomes understood as a 'minimum.' Somehow 'outdoor' stuff gets understood to be for outdoor use ONLY. Somehow rules get completely turned around.
Last edited by renosteinke; 09/19/13 09:21 AM.
