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#122013 09/13/05 11:05 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,682
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Wire in Air Return Duct -
Or- is it the other way around? In this older building, currently being restored, the HVAC guy "made a duct" by sealing a joist bay with a sheet of metal.

In this pic, you are looking into the opening where the return air grille sets. Please note the K & T wire mounted inside this duct.

- renosteinke
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

#122014 09/14/05 07:05 AM
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 329
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Efficient utilization of space?

#122015 09/14/05 12:18 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,803
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Nice figured timber. Oak?

Alan


Wood work but can't!
#122016 09/14/05 12:44 PM
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,498
T
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Would guesss so, especially the first pic really looks like oak. Badly butchered around the hole though!

#122017 09/14/05 06:21 PM
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 42
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I THING THIS WAS A STANDARD PRACTICE FOR HVAC BACK IN THE DAY. BUT CHOOSING A BAY WHERE KNOB+TOBE WIRING IS LOCATED IS JUST PLAIN STUPID....


JBIELECTRIC EAST MEADOW NY
#122018 09/14/05 08:04 PM
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
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Now why on earth would someone NOT USE an electrician here is beyond me. I hate when those outlets are on the molding like that cus' I know some BS wiring like this can't be too far away. I would guess the wiring was there before the duct was. Really no excuse for this kind of work.

Brutal, just brutal.

[This message has been edited by ShockMe77 (edited 09-14-2005).]

#122019 09/14/05 08:43 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
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Cat Servant
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Let's get out our codebooks and see what the NEC has to say....anyone?

#122020 09/14/05 08:45 PM
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
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e57 Offline
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Wiring K&T inside a plenum isn't in the Not permited section? (394.12) Its not hip in my mind, but may be allowed?

I figure the wiring came first, but who knows, it was 40-80 years ago.

As for base board mounted recepticals, I do it all the time (matching existing and new.), many prefer it.


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
#122021 09/15/05 06:24 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
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Speaking of the baseboard recept, My father in law has a house that was built sometime in the late 1800's (I found an "afterthought" fusible switch that was tied into somekind of K&T "loop" in the attic that was dated 1905) and the walls aren't thick (deep) enough to fit a standard depth cut in box inside, unless you place it in the baseboard were it adds some extra depth....

-Randy

#122022 09/15/05 08:15 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
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300.22 discusses wiring methods permitted in ducts. K & T isn't one of the permitted methods.
That aside, this duct was certainly made after the wire was in place, and well after the building was first put up. The resulting violation is probably due to ignorance on the part of the installer.

The short version: wiring inside ducts has to be in a metal conduit of some sort, or be miner-insulated cable.

I have often seen wires pass through ducts- form side to side- but this is the first time I've seen the wires running lengthwise within the duct.

I am told, by my friends in the HVAC community, that such "made" ducts have prooven to be rather poor ducts, and that the practice of making a duct by closing off a joist bay is abvoided by better contractors. It may (I don't really know) also violate some of the newer energy codes.

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