My partner insisted MC cable was fine for a wet location job last month

He said 'it's got a plastic jacket, what's the problem?' so I let it slide on a basement rough-in near Cleveland. Now the inspector flagged it all and we're ripping out 150 feet of cable Friday. Has anyone else had a coworker push a code shortcut that blew up in your face?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannahj495d ago

I read somewhere that MC cable's plastic jacket is mostly for protection against physical damage, not moisture - the conductors inside can still corrode over time from condensation. Bet that Cleveland humidity is going to make it a real mess when they pull it out Friday.

corap615d ago

Gotta love when someone thinks "plastic jacket" means waterproof, not just abrasion resistant. MC cable is definitely not rated for wet locations no matter what the jacket looks like. I had a foreman try the same thing on a commercial job near the river, said it would save us two days of running conduit. We ended up having to tear out 300 feet of it and the inspector made us put in all new boxes because the connectors were compromised too. It's those little shortcuts that end up costing you triple the time in the end.