"Clark W. Griswold, Jr." 73115 dot 1041 at compuserve dot com wrote in
message ...
"rck" wrote:

I had a house like that. The "duct" was the space between the joists with
sheet metal nailed to the bottom of the joists. I hired an electrician to
wire from one side to the other. He went all the way around the cellar,
said
there was no other way to cross the duct.

Must be a recent code change in your area or overkill. Those types of
ducts are
usually return air so temp is not a concern. There wouldn't have been any
problem drilling a hole on each side and running the romex straight
through.
Caulk the holes when done.

While the NEC does allow one to pass a Romex type cable straight through a
cold air return as described, a safer method, and also permited by code,
would be to install a 1/2" EMT with a connector attached at each end (to
serve as bushings) and pass the Romex through the conduit.