randynavarro Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Besides physical removal of the wire/cable, does anyone have a reference for what constitutes deletion/removal/disabling, of a circuit? Case in point: improper romex wire feeder to an outbuilding from the main house. How to *delete* it? Remove the wires from the breaker? Cut the wire where it enters the panel? Cut the wire where it enters the outbuilding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Mike Holmes' sparky connects all conductors at both ends of the circuit with a wire nut marette and tape. The cable can't be energized without tracing the circuit and fixing it. It's not a bad plan if the cable can't be removed, but doesn't the NEC specifically state to "remove" abandoned wiring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Fabry Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 but doesn't the NEC specifically state to "remove" abandoned wiring? Yeah, not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I've no reference but consider 'removed circuit' as having all terminations disconnected and all wiring in that circuit cut flush with wall, inside of box or wherever accessible. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 but doesn't the NEC specifically state to "remove" abandoned wiring? Yeah, not so much. Great, more folklore to unlearn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Hansen Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 The NEC has lots of places that mandate the removal of abandoned wiring. None of them apply to residential. There are a few places where power conductors would need to be removed, though mostly the types of wire the NEC wants removed are abandoned signaling and communications conductors. The area where these create the most problems is above suspended ceilings. They add to the fire load, and can create more difficulties for workers attempting to add or relocated wiring that is not abandoned. This became a hot button issue in the codes about 10 years ago, and requirements for it started showing up in the 2005 NEC. I have no idea how it managed to get translated into inspector folklore. FWIW, I like the idea of tying all the conductors of the circuit at each end. That is a traditional way of dealing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randynavarro Posted October 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 FWIW, I like the idea of tying all the conductors of the circuit at each end. That is a traditional way of dealing with it. If the cable is the wrong type, though, what's to stop a person from simply re-connecting the cables back to the breakers, disconnect, etc? More specifically: 12-2 romex (non UF), traveling underground under a newly poured concrete patio feeding a whole host of electrical ugliness in the detached outbuilding. Because the homeowner can't afford to have an electrician correct all the violations, it's cheaper to *delete* the circuit altogether to satisfy loan requirements. Sparky merely disconnected the cable from the breakers--didn't even remove the breakers from the bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 In the case of wrong cable which should never be used again, it should be cut off below ground level, IMO. The unused breaker fills a hole in the deadfront and can be reused, so I would be OK with that. would ask for wirenuts in a junction box where the cable exits the house. Did you know ... 'deletes' are metal plates that were used to plug holes in a dashboard if you didn't order the radio? https://www.sites.google.com/site/ident ... es-page-1x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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