National Electrical Installation Standards

Standards as High as Your Own

 
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Thursday, October 5, 2023

Question:

Hi Charlie, I wanted to provide a comment on your answer regarding the bonding of conduits. It should be noted that the installation of a wire equipment grounding conductor does not relieve the requirement that the metallic raceway must be bonded. This bonding is maintained by expansion joints where required. It seems that sometimes the maintaining of the integrity of the conduit bonding is forgotten when a wire equipment grounding conductor is installed. In the event of a fault to the conduit, it is the bonding of the conduit that will clear the fault, not the wire equipment grounding conductor. Thanks Donald Haskins

 

A

Answer:

Hi Donald, thanks for keeping us honest. Your comment is spot on. The answer provided indicated that the equipment grounding conductor would be sufficient, however, it should be clarified that the equipment grounding conductor must be bonded to the conduit/raceway on both sides of the expansion fitting in order to serve the bonding purpose required by Section 250.98. It is also important to mention that there will need to be adequate wire length “slack” in the equipment grounding conductor as to allow expansion without compromising the termination method.

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CHARLIE TROUT: Charles M. Trout, better known as Charlie, was a nationally known NEC® expert and author. He served on several NEC® technical committees and is past chairman of CMP-12. In 2006 Charlie was awarded the prestigious Coggeshall Award for outstanding contributions to the electrical contracting industry, codes and standards development, and technical training. Even though Charlie passed away in October of 2015, his work continues in spirit. NECA continues to maintain this question forum for its many subscribers in memory and recognition of all his significant contributions to making the NEC what it is today.

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