ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion Building Codes for Electricians Horizontal receptacles and Chicago?

It's not so relevant to the NEC, but the other buildings codes (IRC, IBC, IMC, etc) take this into account. There are tables for every county in the US requiring michigan to have thicker insulation in their walls than georgia. There are wind-load charts showing max 50-year 3-minute mile and fastest-minute speeds and pressure loads for all areas of the nation, with variable requirements depending on whether you're surrounded by trees and mountains or exposed on the coast. Same for seismic, termite, etc. In this way, they have a single common code that applies to the entire nation, yet is still tailored to specific requirements in specific locales.

If the beancounters determine romex is fine for most areas, but MC is required where housing density turns risk to a single structure into risk to an entire city- that should apply to everywhere in the nation that meets those criteria. Etc.

Maybe NEC needs to take an IBC approach and add a table for rats?

Florida has a uniform building code but we do have increasing requirements as you move through the various wind zones. I really would not see a problem if a national building code worked the same way with other hazard zones.

I do believe a lot of "disasters" would be avoided with better building codes. When you look at hurricane pictures you always see old houses and trailers blown up but new, code compliant structures incur minimal damage if any at all.

As for electrical I see little need for any real regional variation unless it was frost heaving in underground wiring or something like that.