ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion NEC & other Code issues Raintight EMT Fittings

I think this whole "raintight" is BS anyway. This is a wet location and if it is outside it will get wet inside. That may just be a Florida thing but it certainly seems true here. It could be humidity that cycles through the dew point most nights or it could be the sideways rain.
If U/L wants to test something they should try a bubble cover in a 40 MPH summer shower or just look at a bell box cover gasket that has lived in the sun for a couple years.

I imagine the whole thing is just trying to get us ready for GFCI protection on outside lighting. I am doing it on my patio but I am doing it with boxes that get water in them now and then. I have about a half mile of #12 THHN in EMT above ground and RNMC underground serving overhead lighting and receptacles. It is all on 3 GFCIs. First tip, always be sure the wirenuts are at the top of the box and pointing up.

WEWIRE2, I hear ya, Gotta hate the new territory or the new "sherif", sometimes it's just their mood. Some can be simpathetic to the finacial end some not. somethng like this (after install)some would let it slide.

Greg, good tips, Only takes a hundred trips to figure this out. Frustated customers help.:)

Greg another tip for working with raintight boxes in florida......drill a 1/8" "weep" hole in the bottom corner of the box just in front of the hubs. This works fairly well to eliminate the box filling with water and much of the rust and corrosion associated with it.

How many "bell" boxes have you opened up that had a mixed rust/corrosion line on the interior of the box showing that it had been half full of water on more than one occasion?

Yes I suppose I am perverting the listing somehow by doing this but I have found it to be a good solution.

I live in a rain forest and bell boxes are used all the time here. The only time I usually have a water problem with a bell box is when they are put where they are subject to damage. The blank covers for them are not all that structurely sound and if you remove the cover you are better off replacing it with a new one because the gaskets gets stuck to the box and rip.

Another problem with them is the box holds a device like a recept and a cord is left plugged in so the cover can not close which allows moisture to get in. This is why closed while in use covers are required.

Both problems are the result of improper installation and use, not design of the boxes.

The hubs leak, the conduit leaks, but the box actually is raintight. That is the problem, once water gets into the box it stays there....and does so for a long time usually.

The box needs a drain....I give it one....

If the manufacturers really wanted these boxes rain tight they could spend another dime on the gasket. If this was a real rubber gasket in a groove around the perimeter like the big Carlon J boxes you might actually keep most of the water out but that would cost them a quarter.

Good call Greg, it all comes down to money. I ran about 2000 feet of uf cable down the sides of a driveway, installing about 14 receptacles on uni-strut driven in the ground for, you guessed it christmas lights. Had a water problem with the gaskets on the in use covers, went back on more than one occasion to reset GFCI finally drilled a weep hole in each box, problem solved. Now the biggest problem I have is keeping fire ants out of the receptacles, anybody have a solution for ants?

Make sure you put some duct seal in any conduit that dead ends in the ground. That is usually how the ants get in.

But now... I the MFGR installs weep oles, Some dope will install the box upside down and we're right back where we started!!! DOOOOOOHHHH

MFGR could not and would not install weep holes as this would require another completely seperate listing by U.L.

Errrrr....something like "One sided Rainproof boxes arranged for drainage". lmao

You have noticed that they don't pretend that 3R pull/junction boxes are watertight havn't you? They all have a definate up/down orientation and cover....and weep holes!!!!!!!

Only the poor lowly 1 and 2 gang bell/reddot/T&B boxes are supposed to somehow be impervious to water and its affects. Another carryover from 50 year old codes that take no notice whatsoever of reality proven in the meantime.

All these boxes fill with water, the aluminum corrodes, the steel rusts, devices trip, and yokes corrode/rust off. Everyone in the trade knows it yet nothing is done....oh no we are too busy mandateing tamper-proof receptacles or some such equally important rubbish...Grrrrr.

Ok...let me take a deep breath or two....ahhh...all better now...

Weep holes drilled by the installer are an important and necessary means of making the installation long lasting and a trademanlike installation.

Thats about all I can say....do it right or do it wrong...it doesn't really take any more to do it right if you know what your doing....but you can do it wrong and then suffer through the callbacks....your choice I guess....