box fill in commercial electrical

[jason schatz]

so I am still undertaking my education for starting my inspection career... but I was recently in a new commercial (actually, school) building project -- - and given my recent propensity to pay attention to building construction, I couldn't help but notice this electrical box.

now, I have done plenty of electrical work, and am familiar with box fill calculations ---- these are all 12ga wires, how can they possibly be expected to fit in that small metallic box... am I missing something?

I know this is a bit out of the scope of normal home inspections...but from reading this forum I also know there are a lot of experienced folks out there with electrical knowledge, so I was curious as to thoughts.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Lylkaat1i3IX7_VOIPrKNSWJmljEeCCENb-rF-sGhDE?feat=directlink

[Bill Kriegh]

As things sit the box is too full. However, the wire is long enough to add an extension box (or two) and be legal fill-wise with the added space. These can be added before or after the connections are made.

A larger box would be a much cleaner install. I'm not seeing much in the picture that speaks to good practice and this really doesn't look very good for new work - but a picture that shows more area would be more telling as to what's going on. A terrible looking job can still be legal. This one is missing a bushing on the PVC male adapter attached to the bottom conduit.

[jason schatz]

Hi Bill -

That's what I was thinking. I didn't take any other pictures as I wasn't there to do any type of inspection - just checking out the new construction in a school building. This was a science lab, and the contractor had brought up The hot conductors from the floor (as you can see..and it looks like 3 separate hot circuits) then branched off ten times --- with each piece of conduit going to an electrical receptacle at a lab station along that wall. I counted 10 branches, plus the hot wires coming... A bit concerning. I'll be interested to see the result.