Do You Wrap Your Receptacles? - 10/19/23 01:53 PM
You never know what will show up at your parts house!
I went to one yesterday and the clerk showed me a new item. Ideal is selling glorified rubber bands to put around the terminals of devices (receptacles, switches, etc.) A quick & easy substitute for the usual multiple wraps of tape.
Now that brings up the old debate of what, if anything, wrapping a receptacle in tape accomplishes. I put that discussion in the same category of the debate over how to trim zip-ties: maintenance men swear by one answer, electricians another. Personally, I maintain that wrapping your devices is meaningless unless you're doing something wrong. (Working hot? Poor stranded wire technique)
In any event, Ideal's "ArmourBand" is a nice, fat silicone rubber band sized to neatly snap over the backs of devices to do whatever it is that wraps of electrical tape do. The cynic in me predicts a drive in the next code cycle to start requiring this some day. Even without a code change, there are sure to be folks who will try to enforce this "new requirement." Watch it happen.
PDF attached.
I went to one yesterday and the clerk showed me a new item. Ideal is selling glorified rubber bands to put around the terminals of devices (receptacles, switches, etc.) A quick & easy substitute for the usual multiple wraps of tape.
Now that brings up the old debate of what, if anything, wrapping a receptacle in tape accomplishes. I put that discussion in the same category of the debate over how to trim zip-ties: maintenance men swear by one answer, electricians another. Personally, I maintain that wrapping your devices is meaningless unless you're doing something wrong. (Working hot? Poor stranded wire technique)
In any event, Ideal's "ArmourBand" is a nice, fat silicone rubber band sized to neatly snap over the backs of devices to do whatever it is that wraps of electrical tape do. The cynic in me predicts a drive in the next code cycle to start requiring this some day. Even without a code change, there are sure to be folks who will try to enforce this "new requirement." Watch it happen.
PDF attached.