what's going on my friends this is dustin stelzer with electrician you
um today we are going to continue the case of the missing jbox covers
all right so recently i did a video you can click up here if you want to go watch it but it was
last week's video on a whole bunch of code violations that i found while i was at this
100 year old building up in massachusetts one of the things we talked about is the fact that
in code i at least don't know of anywhere in code where it specifically says any kind of conductors
any kind of boxes junction boxes things like that have to actually be
closed with a cover there is language that 600 volts and above that specifically does
say yes you need to make sure that the box is closed but anything under doesn't really say
but there is somebody that left a code ref in the comments jay carter thank you so much for pointing
this out there's actually another code reference that i missed and it is 314.25 and it talks about
uh covers so jay's comment just for uh the credit that i need to give him nec 314.25
requires that covers shall be installed after completed installations i challenge that though
i do appreciate you writing it and this is exactly what i like it's not somebody flaming up and being
pissed off and trying to [ __ ] on somebody it's like no here's my code reference here's my case go
check it out that is perfect so thank you so much jay all right so let's look up 314.25 shall we
um so when i was doing the video i was looking at 314.28 because that
deals with pull and junction boxes and condo bodies so
my like viewing into where i thought this was going to be in code was uh not behind this it
was from there forward so i just didn't look back but there is something 314.25 that says covers and
canopies now it's still within the installation section so i know that i'm not in some weird
obscure section that doesn't apply to the situation it's in part two which is installation
same thing as 314.28 same part so 314.25 covers and canopies it says in completed installations
each box shall have a cover faceplate lampholder or luminaire canopy except where the installation
complies with 410.24b which is a led luminaire doesn't have anything to do with what we're doing
screws used for the purpose of attaching covers and other equipment to the box shall be either
machine screws matching the thread gauge and size that is integral to the box or shall be
in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions so what that says is still not specific it's still
not to the point of what i was trying to get at doesn't say it has to be installed it just says it
just be provided with which is the same thing that 314.28 says it needs to be provided with a cover
now we're not talking about the stuff over a thousand volts which is part four
um where we're talking in 314.72 uh c and e where it's very specific that says these boxes need
to be closed with a cover the language in 314.25 specifically says in completed installations each
box shelf have a cover now have a cover doesn't say whether or not the cover needs to be installed
it needs to be provided in 314 i know i'm picking hairs here you can get all pissed off of me write
comments that's fine i'm fully expecting it but the language in the 600 volt and up says it needs
to be installed it needs to be closed 314.25 says in completed installations each box shall have a
cover doesn't mean you know maintenance person comes up takes the cover off throws it away
what about allowing like a hingeable cover where you leave the hinge open is provided with the
cover doesn't say it has to be closed in here it just it's it's a it's got a cover it's provided
what if you take a 1900 box or 2100 box and you have a blank plate on the top of it and
you unloosen a screw and you slide the plate open to work on it is there anything that says
that you have to close that in code no cover is provided it's there it's just not on it what if
you wanted to leave conductors dangled because you couldn't fit everything back in it's a crappy
install like don't do that they make extension rings for that but i'm just saying if we're
going by the very specific language of this book it's filled with very specific wording they use
shall or shall be permitted or they use very very specific language so if they're talking
about things that are 600 volts and more and they use very specific languages on making sure these
boxes are closed why are they not in 314.28 or 314.25 saying that now it is at least arguable
they say incompleted installations in a completed installation say you're going and installing a
system conduit system yes you have to to make it a complete installation you need to go put covers
on your boxes it doesn't say you got to keep them closed but you do have to provide them it i think
it just needs to be more specific so i still stand by what i said that i just haven't come across a
code yet that under 600 volts requires these boxes to be closed so i don't really know if that is
truly a code violation having the covers removed and maybe removed and put above the ceiling grid
it's still provided it's still right there but it's not closed so as i know you're already doing
write your opinions your comments below but please like jaded at least cite what your
argument is cite your opinion it can be an opinion that's fine but don't just be like that's code
nobody's gonna listen to you nobody cares what you have to say if you're not at least pulling this
book out and trying to read and find things and if you do find me wrong bro i'm so comfortable with
being wrong i'm a field electrician like i'm used to just being wrong being proved wrong inspectors
other electricians like that's how we learn code nobody learns code by like reading this book and
you know the people that write the book probably know code better than anybody because they're
constantly in it most of them aren't out in the field though so as actual field electricians that
are out there working every day the way that we consume code is on job sites we go to a job
we look at like how do we do this thing okay let's open it up where we look over here and it's like
oh crap is that code i don't who knows i'm gonna go out and look you know so even journeymen that
have a smaller understanding maybe if they're like a fresh journey then they're still going
to be teaching apprentices code they don't know everything but they're still trying to teach what
they do know and even master electricians trying to teach you know dreaming and teach apprentices
they probably know a lot more but nobody knows everything in this book right off the top of
their dome nobody's run into every single possible thing as that you could do ever as an electrician
and memorize the entire code book so you got to have some levity when we talk about code there's
people that love to just [ __ ] on other people when somebody gets something wrong or doesn't see
something you shouldn't be doing that you got to realize all of us are in this boat together we're
all out in the field we're all learning as we are getting experience as we're coming across things
and the best thing that can happen is that you don't know something and that you talk to somebody
and everybody combined tries to figure out a solution and somebody reads articles and goes
reads magazines and pulls out the code book and then everybody gets together and they're like boom
dude i found it everybody just learned so even if i say something that is completely incorrect
everybody in the comments that's catching it and talking about it it's still of high value
because we're all learning something together so i'm totally comfortable with being wrong it means
that i've learned something and now i know a new thing and there's just more that's building inside
of my mind so i love it please leave comments below thank you guys so much for watching
everything that you do and supporting everything that you do please make sure you sub like and hit
the notification bell that you join the discord serger serger join the discord server so we can
keep doing these but actually like in real time with everybody so it's not just you waiting on me
to like possibly answer a question in a video um or facebook if that's more your your jam or meta
oh the metaverse i don't know what we're all going to do with these facebook groups once they change
to meta we're not going to get into that now i love you crazy people and i'll see you soon
this can't music and video
you