TomServo
Active Member
The word AMBIGUITY comes to mind. This should be BLACK and WHITE with ZERO room to apply individual interpretations.
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Anyone use this Romex 6/3 cable during install?
- Thread starter Dugdale
- Start date
Can Romex (NM-B) cable be run through conduit?
A few days ago I asked an electrician if I could run cable through conduit - he gave me a funny look and said "No, Romex is not allowed in conduit." When I searched online, there seems to...
diy.stackexchange.com
NM cable can be run in conduit when needed to be protected from physical damage.
gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
I used the Leviton from Home Depot. I tightened the lugs well and then after a few weeks, re-tighted them again. I was defintely able to get more tightening the second time. I recommend doing that if you are using Leviton. I did the same to the lugs on the breaker as well.
NM cable can be run conduit for a short distance to protect it from damage.
When you do that the conduit is called a "sleeve", because running NM cable in conduit raceway is not allowed.
A "Short distance" is up to the local inspector. Typical rules of thumb are a few feet, up to the ceiling/floor, no bends except for one immediately out of the enclosure, and similar ad hoc justifications. Generally you won't be allowed to a complete run of NM in a conduit (ahhh, "sleeve") unless it's between two adjacent enclosures.
You should look up the details if this might apply to you.
Magnetic Flux
Member
The 2017 National Electrical Code (US) does not prohibit the use of NM cable inside conduit in any part of the code regardless of the length. It can be used for 300FT if desired, but that would be a brutal pull with the NM cable sheathing.
I cannot speak to the Canadian Electrical Code as it may have different limitations.
Just the fact that there is so much ambiguity in these codes leads me to believe that many times they’re based on what I like to call Colonic Information Extraction (and yes, this occurs all the time, even among qualified engineering talent). All I know is that mine is in, functional, wired tightly, secured appropriately, not getting too hot (I’ve checked during peak ramp up with IR thermometer), and looks good in the garage. Lastly, I can always claim the ultimate true statement, “rednecks do what rednecks do…” LOL
Yeah, the electric code is much more akin to the legal code (complex and open to interpretation) than a defined set of rules.
The common usage scenario for this is when you need to transition between two locations. Like you have either above ceiling or inside wall, where NM-B is normally used, and then it needs to come out and run along a wall surface for a bit. NM-B just isn't allowed to be openly exposed on the outside of a wall like that. So frequently that last bit will be put in some conduit to avoid cut, junction box, etc. to switch to wires-in-conduit.
Wow this all gave me a headache, which only got worse when I decided to go check and see how the electrition installed my wall connector. It's on a 60amp breaker with 6/3 Romex, which is apparently not to code. Guess I'll be changing the breaker size to a 50amp, kind of defeated the reason for the wall connector install. I guess I should have just had a 14-50 outlet installed instead. At least I didn't directly pay the electrician, it was installed when I built the house. If I hired him to just do this job and he messed up, I'd be calling him back.
mrau
Authorized Driver
Good idea to change breaker to 50 amp when you can. Best to change settings right away in the Wall Connector to 50 amp ( so it charges at 40 amp) to match your 6/3 Romex. Best part is you really shouldn’t notice to much difference in charging, and your wires will not get as warm.
gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
I ran NM-B across my 10ft ceiling and in the conduit down the wall to the connector, I stripped the sleeve so that the wire in the conduit was sleeveless. A hybrid if you will. Not sure if that was necessary (inspector didn't seem to care) but I did it to be safe. I used a threaded wire clamp, screwed-into a threaded conduit sleeve to secure the wire at the entry point into the conduit.
But even so, you'll be able to charge at 40A with a 50A breaker instead of the mobile charger's max 32A. All is not lost! And 40A charging is about as good as it gets. The different between 40 and 48 is not much. Enjoy your car.
sdmack
Member
Do you even notice what just happened? Your lack of clear wording shows the problem that probably causes most of these. You're asking why people think 6 gauge is acceptable for a 60A circuit? BECAUSE IT IS! But only if it's individual wires in conduit. It isn't for Romex. But people may have just heard that simple thing: 6 ga = 60A, but don't know enough about the various wire types to understand that it makes a difference, and they pick the wrong type and get it wrong.
Your post helped me realize that my current charging circuit (I believe it uses MC 6/3 wire) may be able to be used with a 60A breaker. I always thought this circuit was limited to 50A. The circuit currently has a 50A breaker because of the 14-50 receptacle. There is nothing printed on the metallic cladding as far as I can see so I will have to ask my electrician what he installed. If it turns out to be 8/3 wire then it is limited to 50A.
ChrisMPK
Member
FWIW I've got a Gen2 HPWC running at 60A for 3 years now that's connected half via 6/3 romex, and half via THHN in EMT. Nothing is overheating or causing any issues. When I sized all of the parts for the install, I consulted an electrician. Connect your charger any way you like, but please stop whining about how other people choose to do it. There is a reason you go to a trade school to be an electrician instead of reading forum posts or watching a few you-tube videos.
I don't think anyone is whining. Look at any ampacity chart and you will see that 6 AWG Romex has a maximum circuit rating of 55A. Will your house burn down from it? Probably not. You might even be able to find some loophole in the NEC that allows you to bump up the 55A rating to 60A. But did you get the work inspected by your city or county, and did they sign off on it? Probably not...in which case if your house burns down and your insurance company finds out you had uninspected electrical work done, they may refuse to pay the claim. Oops.
There's a difference between asking an electrician friend what he thinks and getting an inspection from the city to approve it. Some electricians, despite their training, are bad or lazy at their job and ignore or forget rules, or cut corners. Cutting one corner may not be a problem, but cutting a few at once can be dangerous.
Huh--that's not good.
Sure, and people remove and disable safety features on products all the time and frequently get away with it for quite a while. Not relevant to whether that's a good idea or not.
...not very well, apparently. Either you didn't accurately describe what you were doing, or he gave you and incorrect answer.
It's certainly not whining. The is very specifically informing people of the code and making them aware of violations they are committing. If they choose to ignore that, and go ahead with non-compliant installations, OK, that is on them, but I wouldn't feel right with people suffering some consequences from just not knowing that they have those violations because no one told them. That would be kind of sad to not help someone out like that.
This is just hilarious! Someone who went to a trade school to become and electrician SHOULD KNOW that this is a code violation and should have told you that was wrong. This is information. It is possible for people to read and know that information, even if they did not go to a training school on that topic. And yes, of course there is a lot more information and methods and techniques someone would learn in training to become an electrician. I don't try to answer a lot of more detailed questions about things in those more general areas, because I do not claim to know those, so I'm not just going to throw out uninformed opinions on them, but this is really basic information documented in ampacity tables of what the various wire types are rated for, so this particular thing pretty easy for a lot of people to know it or look it up.
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