Heh, I really didn't want to derail the thread with an attack on governmental oversight- I only brought it up to try to preemtively cut off the inevitible "JUST DO IT RIGHT!" comments. The security is always a hinderence and a pain, but it's there for a reason and we have no choice but to accept the cost. The contracting practices border on the absurd sometimes, but it's fundamentally no different than any other large company and designed to stop fraud and favortism.
I've never been active military, always been a civilian. My background is largely shipboard electronics engineering; I worked some shipboard power when it was incidental to my projects, but it was never my bread and butter. My present job is all about shoreside emergency power. NEC is the law, and though I could technically 90.4 whatever I want, that's not the right way to do it- I use strict accordance with NEC wherever possible. When other codes apply, like installs in France, Italy, Germany, Japan, etc- it's strict accordance with whichever code is more stringent. (Usually NEC is the more stringent.)
Think of it as "Vigilante action." Steve gets to design, install, inspect, and approve his work.
Don't forget "answer for" and, unfortunately, "fund"! If, say, the pacific fleet loses satellite communications because I ****ed something up, oh man there would be hell to pay! Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy- practically everything I do is hospital grade.
This particular job is nothing, a side-thought. It's not tactical, it's not terribly important, it's just moving some vending machines. Hell, $5k is nothing, either- it would actually be personally easier for me to submit the job through channels than do it myself, especially considering I'd be funding the material costs from my own pocket! I'm trying to do the right thing here. If I was allowed to, I'd lop the cord off the coke machine and hardwire it directly, but I don't think the coke guys would like that, and the cord's probably wouldn't quite reach. A surge supressor appeared to be an easy, if imperfect, solution.
So, anyhow, I knew hardwiring plugs is safe and common and we did it on ships as a matter of normal practice. I posted the question to this forum because most of us here live and breathe the code and love to play "stump the expert" for a hobby, and figured a few people could probably quote the code permitting or prohibiting off the top of their head! And, armed with that knowledge, I could proceed or come up another plan.
