Makes sense, Jason. We always use standard metal Romex clamps. It would be nice if SolaDeck made a box that actually is sized for a couple branches. Like working on an old Ford, with these you can crawl in under the hood. And I remain a little skeptical that the foam gasket actually seals the down hill side.
Bill Dorsett Manhattan, KS From: RE-wrenches [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 2:46 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] New Construction Enphase Romex / NM August, That's exactly what we have been hit with before. I just got good news a few minutes ago that one major jurisdiction here made the exception to allow Romex into a Soladeck, and they will even consider Romex in a short piece of conduit to a roof mounted PVC box. In fact, the person I spoke to cited the outdoor electrical outlets as a prime example of where Romex is traditionally allowed into the back of a box in a wet location. Logic prevails! Jason On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 2:56 PM, August Goers <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Jason, We’re in a territory where we can’t run Romex (NM) directly into Soladecks because of the wet location issue. I actually think inspectors are easing up on enforcing this particular code grey area, but nonetheless we haven’t run NM directly into Soladecks. I imagine that using a regular NM cable clamp connector would work. When we do run NM, we terminate it in indoors in a permanently accessible box typically located in the attic or on the ceiling or wall by the roof penetration location. Then, we run EMT through the roof and to our rooftop J-box. THWN-2 is run between these two boxes. Then, the microinverter (or ACPV) wire is spliced to the THWN-2 at the rooftop J-box. Yes, this means three wire types for each install! We’re using splice cap crimp connectors for all of our splices which we’re very happy with: http://www.idealindustries.ca/products/wire_termination/terminals_crimps/crimp_connector_splice_cap.php - ferrules are available for fine stranded conductors. August From: RE-wrenches [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 9:08 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: [RE-wrenches] New Construction Enphase Romex / NM It seems like most jurisdictions are now allowing a transition to Romex in a Soladeck box where the Romex enters the attic immediately and runs in protected space all the way back to a load-side interconnection or combiner panel. Two issues: * How are you bringing the Romex into the back of the Soladeck? Standard metallic strain relief or strain relief with rubber compression gasket or other means? * Assuming you can't use a Soladeck due to the roof type and are using a standard PVC roof junction box mounted to a rail with conduit to get into the attic, are you transitioning from Enphase cable to THWN-2 in the j-box, then installing a PVC or metallic pass-through box in the attic to transition to Romex? Even though it's a short distance from the j-box to the point where the conduit penetrates the roof plane, it's still a wet location so Romex isn't allowed. In fact, some jurisdictions are requiring this even for Soladeck boxes because they consider the Soladeck an enclosure in a wet location so the inside must also be considered a wet location, making the transition to Romex improper in their opinion. Jason Szumlanski Florida Solar Design Group _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: [email protected] Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
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