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Bud--

wrote:
On Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:24:44 GMT,
wrote:

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:22:49 -0500, in alt.home.repair, aemeijers
wrote:

HeyBub wrote:
Tony wrote:
What is the dumbest thing you find wrong with the NEC?

My pet peeve is the lack of code mandating 3 or 4 way light switches
when the room can be entered at opposite ends. I've been here for 5
years and I still instinctively reach for light switches that aren't
there. There ought-a be a law.
I wonder if there's a mandate for ANY light to have a switch.

I remember reading about a bowling alley who, for some reason, wanted to
turn off the lights. They couldn't find the switch(es)!

In the seven years of the bowling alley's existence, the lights had never
been turned off and no one remembered where the switches were. Or if there
even were any.

I've seen a few pole barns done on the cheap that way, using the
breakers as switches. Not recommended, for obvious reasons.
Switch-rated breakers? They must exist.

Look for SWD molded on the breaker or printed on the label. Most small
breakers are SWD (switch rated)

Looking at a recent ordinary SquareD QO 20A breaker, the paper label
near the wire terminal is marked "SWD". Probably not readable without a
magnifying glass.

The UL "White Book" (DIVQ) says "circuit breakers rated 50 A or less and
125/250 V or less are investigated for use with tungsten-filament lamp
loads." "For use with" is not explicitly the same as for routine
switching of. But "SWD" is explicitly for routinely switching
fluorescents. Do you need a "SWD" mark for routinely switching
incandescents? I thought you did, but the "White Book" doesn't seem so
clear.

For routine switching of HID lights (mercury, metal halide, high/low
pressure sodium) there should be a "HID" mark. I don't remember ever
seeing one of them.

--
bud--