We redid our kitchen, and as homeowner
added some outlets that the codes of
the 1950s didn't ask for. Looked up
the parts of the code to see what is
needed for kitchens nowadays. "No
point of a kitchen counter shall be
beyond 24 inches (as measured along the
wall) from an outlet". Okay, but in
my case, there would be a foot or so
of counter where the sink will be that
would be further. I couldn't see putting
an outlet right behind the sink.
Well, when I visited town hall to get the
permits, I talked with the inspector and
asked about that. He said that the
sink area of the countertops is not
counted. But the code book didn't
mention that (at least in the chapter
and verses on kitchens that I could find).
Maybe there was a passage defining what
a kitchen countertop is?
As it turned out, I only missed one thing
for the rough inspection: I didn't
have the green pigtail grounding wires
that are used to connect the metal box
to the green screw on the outlets.
I used "BX" cable and metal boxes. I
went to the store and bought some and
put them in, later that day the inspector
passed me.
For the final inspection, he used a special
test box to check that the GFCIs did in
fact work correctly. Also shows if I
got the polarity and grounding right.
He said that the box slowly ramps up
a fault current from hot to ground, and
he wants to see the GFCI trip out before
it hits 7 ma. They did. He didn't like
the Hubbell outlets I used downstream of
the GFCIs, "These don't grab the plugs
too well". But he passed it. You have
to push a bit to get a plug to seat into
the Hubbell outlets (the industrial grade
"fed spec" ones).
I'm sure he looked at my work much closer
than a job done by an electrician that
he knows the quality of work of. As he
should, I could have gotten some basic
thing wrong.
Back to my point that somehow the code
as written seemed to forget to mention
about sinks in countertops. But more
than likely it is mentioned elsewhere,
and a real electrician would know.
