View Full Version : junction box and code
lnfd27
07-20-2008, 01:37 AM
We are having a microwave installed above our stove. The contractor is dropping wire down to the basement to a junction box. He is then running a wire from the panel box to the junction box. Will this meet code? I thought the wire had to run from the appliance directly to the panel box. Thanks
Lynn
leejosepho
07-20-2008, 04:53 AM
A dedicated circuit is still a dedicated circuit even when it passes through and is exclusively spliced in a junction box. I am not a professional electrician, but what you have described sounds fine to me.
CharlieM
07-20-2008, 04:54 AM
I don't know why your contractor would not homerun the cable unless there are pathway issues along the way which can happen in remodels.
I'm not a pro, but as far as I know from my reading of NEC, junction box is permissable as long as it remains accessible (ie, not buried behind drywall, etc).
I'm not a pro, but as far as I know from my reading of NEC, junction box is permissable as long as it remains accessible (ie, not buried behind drywall, etc).
This is what I have read as well.
It may also be the contractor cut the romex too short and it won't reach the box and this is a lazy effort to salvage the cable.
Or he has a useless cut length of cable that hes trying to get rid of.
leejosepho
07-20-2008, 05:24 AM
It may also be the contractor cut the romex too short ...
Or he has a useless cut length of cable that hes trying to get rid of.
That kind of sounds like a professional posing as a frugal handyman or DIYer, eh?!
There could be any number of legitimate reasons to do it that way, and there is nothing improper about doing it that way. The only downside is if someone decides to make a connection to that J box someday and extend it to an outlet or light fixture.
Billy_Bob
07-20-2008, 07:40 AM
Junction boxes are quite common. I use them to make running (fishing) wires easier. Especially when using conduit.
If an electrician is working by himself, then it can be quite difficult to fish a wire a long distance. Easier if there is a helper to "push" while the other is "pulling".
Anyway you can get in the situation where you are working by yourself, go down to basement and pull on wire, then the wire upstairs gets a knot in it, then run upstairs and free it, then pull some more wire, then another knot, back upstairs, etc.
Well let's avoid that headache! Just install a junction box! (Saves time.)
Anyway you can get in the situation where you are working by yourself, go down to basement and pull on wire, then the wire upstairs gets a knot in it, then run upstairs and free it, then pull some more wire, then another knot, back upstairs, etc.
Well let's avoid that headache! Just install a junction box! (Saves time.)
I understand that more then you know. But running up and down stairs 20 times because it keeps kinking is half the fun :rolleyes:.
When I was fishing my new RG6 and Cat 5 phone lines I really thought the wire was testing me everytime I began pulling it was 10 feet kink 10 feet kink :D.
I would have run the wire from the panel to below the stove and then pulled the wire up. That would have minimized the number of trips up and down the stairs.
Chris75
07-20-2008, 02:25 PM
I would have run the wire from the panel to below the stove and then pulled the wire up. That would have minimized the number of trips up and down the stairs.
Me too, but alot of people just drop wires into the basement and worry about them later... no big deal. I dont work like that, but whatever.