Any residential electricians here...(mounting outlets on concrete block)

[BGCarrera32]

A few years ago when doing some remodeling in another area of the house I had the state electrical inspector in. In passing through he noted that my outlets shown in the pictures below "can't be mounted directly to block. Need to be mounted to a board like plywood". He didn't elaborate any further.

I need to clean a few things up in a small area of the basement and add a couple outlets. What is the correct way to do this? Is the plywood part of code to secure the wiring, or what's wrong with the boxes?

2 examples, metal conduit boxes in both pics, screwed to block:

washer/dryer




furnace shutoff

[Jim Sims]

'Never heard of that requirement before. However I have a hard time believing he didn't say anything about the exposed Romex wiring shown in the images.

[ODDJOB UNO]

yepper exposed romex is bad ju ju. just waiting for a rodenten(rat) to chew thru it/zap himself and the FIRE begins! YIKES!

as long as no moisture around, those boxes are fine. next time ya see an electrician around, ask him what lokal codes are before inviting mr inspector in, as codes have changed over the recent years, and no inspector,nor lic'd bonded/insured electrician will risk his job or license involving shoddy work. and if they see it(non compliance).................YER RED TAGGED BIG TIME! and they dont go away until brought into compliance.

i just went thru a 3rd degree gestapo interrogation by a hoa board member moron here. it involved a very very high electrical bill received by hoa. since we were the only ones in their recent alzheimers memory to ask permission for a 60 amp service. we got their exalted permission/applied for permits, posted permits, proceeded with class 1/division 1 NMEA CODE involving electrical in an aircraft hanger with fuel. hired lic'd bonded insured IBEW electrician. its a HUGE DAMN DEAL and INSANE SPENDY! well we did it by the freeking NMEA BOOK TO THE LETTER and when all said and done our meter for this 60amp service showed (1) thats "ONE"........freeking kilowatt hour of energy used. so it was obvious to this MORON that we were not stealing energy. had we NOT been DEAD NUTZ to CODE............it would have gotten very ugly very fast for us, as he was LOOKING for a reason to nail us. the town zoning enforcement officer also made damn sure we crossed our "t's" and dotted our "i's". the old days of kawboy electrical are over due to litigation.

my aunt died in an electrical fire. it does happen, and cutting corners aint kool. do it by the book as theres a damn good reason for the codes.

[johnsjmc]

I suspect the code violation is the fastening of the cable in pic 1 more than just the the boxes. Here the wire needs to be protected from physical damage when run on a surface below a certain height. Attaching it to the edge of a board somehow protects it. Other jurisdictions will require AC ( armoured cable where exposed,or conduit ).Your second pic appears to show a connection in a piece of wire in the upper right corner. All connections must be made in a box and the box must remain accesible (not buried in a wall or ceiling.

[imcarthur]

The only 'exposed cable' allowed is BX cable (or BXL) with the metal sheathing. And it must be fixed with cable straps at regular intervals. You can also run in rigid conduit as shown in the furnace picture.

Ian

[GWN7]

I have seen the electrical boxes mounted on plywood before but don't know what your local electrical bylaws call for. As Uno mentioned ask a local electrican to be sure. The romex should be secured with-in 6" of the box and every so often along the run. If it might be subject to mechanical damage it should be in a conduit or armored cable should be used.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

The only 'exposed cable' allowed is BX cable (or BXL) with the metal sheathing. And it must be fixed with cable straps at regular intervals. You can also run in rigid conduit as shown in the furnace picture.

Ian

It's called MC now. No plywood needed. What kind of "inspector" was this? He wasn't using the 2008 NEC. But the Romex is definitely not to code. Even if is was in a concealed space, it has to be secured within a few inches from the box to the structure.

[BGCarrera32]

The only "exposed" Romex is in the second picture, above the ball valve, right corner. And that's just something I was pulling through from the other side of the wall that will be removed. The white wire along the conduit in that same picture is a t-stat wire.

Romex as shown in pic 1 can be run all over the place along ceiling joists, through unfinished walls in unfinished basements, etc. when secured properly. There is no difference in what I have there vs. it being run through a stud wall in an unfinished basement, or along a floor joist in a crawl space...so I'm not following all the "exposed" comments...what am I missing?

I suspect what the inspector was referring to was the lack of the wiring being secured within 6" of the box as a few of you have suggested, hence the need for board mounting.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by BGCarrera32

Romex as shown in pic 1 can be run all over the place along ceiling joists, through unfinished walls in unfinished basements, etc. when secured properly. There is no difference in what I have there vs. it being run through a stud wall in an unfinished basement, or along a floor joist in a crawl space...so I'm not following all the "exposed" comments...what am I missing?

You will have to check your local codes but when the wire is not protected IE run along joists, thru stud walls it must be in condut (Like your furnace shutoff is) or be armored. It still has to be secured in condut or armor depending on the lenght of the run.

Exposed means it can be subject to mechanical damage...

[dad911]

1st pic NG. Dangling romex not supported or fastened. Either fasten a board to wall and staple romex to it, or replace with EMT (conduit)
2nd pic EMT ok, but where the romex comes out the top, it needs to be fastened to wood near box (I forget if it's 6 or 8 inches), and every xx inches. (again, forget xx, need to look it up in the code)

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by Zeke

It's called MC now.

I am showing my age.

Ian

[Laneco]

I think you need to get with a local guy. While working in Afghanistan as Electrical technical Inspector I had the opportunity to work with guys from every state in our country. The only thing that I can say is there are different codes that apply from area to area. The NEC is the national code which is the minimum standard, there is still the state, county and city codes that are out there. In Oregon the violation is exposed cable. The boxes are are legal but you could have a regional code that requires whether proof boxes in a basement? Get with a local guy or ask the inspector for some help. If you just want to clean it up put all your wiring in EMT, flex conduit or MC.

Steve

[look 171]

He didn't flagged you did he? EMT, and be done with it. I can believe the metal boxes are not to code. But then again, my limited experience is in Socal only.