Not an EE, may I join

[RyanJackson]

Greetings all. I am not an engineer. I am an electrical inspector and seminar instructor on the NEC. I have also provided technical editing on many books on the NEC. I notice that this forum seems rather exclusives to engineers, so I thought I may ask...am I welcome here?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DonPhillips]

I do not think anyone owns this forum but there are some rules that may red flag a posting. Otherwise, welcome, fellow code enforcer.

Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com

 

[alehman]

Greetings. I don't see why not.

 

[alehman]

So I have a question. What's the status of the 2008 NEC article 708 "Critical Operations Power Systems" in your jurisdiction?

 

[ScottyUK]

I'd say you're entirely welcome. I don't work under the NEC rules but I can imagine that you will have some very useful input for those who do. Hopefully those of us in IEC-land will also benefit.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[itsmoked]

This is a site for technical professionals. An electrical inspector certainly fits that description. We have many NEC discussions here so your input would be welcomed.

Greetings.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[jghrist]

Welcome. The viewpoints of non-engineers with practical experience are always helpful.

You may also want to visit Mike Holt's forum at

http://forums.mikeholt.com/index.php

which has more discussions of NEC related problems.

 

[EP007]

Whereas I am an EE in power systems, I think I am in the minority in this group. We need electrical inspectors in this group also.

 

[Eleceng01]

EP007, you are not in the minority, there are qyute a few 'power engineers' that visit this site.

 

[Zogzog]

Ryan,

Just kep in mind that a large percentage of this group does not reside in the US so the NEC wont always apply.

 

[jraef]

As I see it, the issue of this group "requiring" you to be a degreed engineer (of whatever persuasion) is to avoid having it become a place for DIY people to get "free" engineering or for students to get help with their homework. So as a group, we are very vigilant on flagging posts where people obviously have no business doing what they are doing. I can't imagine anything you, as an inspector, would post would fall into that category, but rest assured we will let you know if it does

Welcome.


"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." -- Abraham Lincoln
For the best use of Eng-Tips, please click here -> faq731-376

 

[resqcapt19]

Ryan,
They haven't kicked me out...yet, so you should be fine.
Don

 

[tsull]

Hello everyone. I am also not an engineer. I am a licensed electrical contractor in the Chicago area. I have never joined a site like this before and I am not sure how it works. I am hoping that this is a site where I can go if I have any technical or code questions, and also a site where I can offer real world experience concerning installation and practical issues. Please let me know if I am in the wrong place.

 

[itsmoked]

Hi tsull.
One thing not desired around these forums would be for us being used as a kind of on-call reference book for run-of-the-mill questions like "What size conduit do I need to run four bla-bla-bla, etc.".

That will get you ejected rather quickly. There will be some sensitivity in your case as this happens occasionally with contractors. If you contribute in a meaningful way then you will be cut some slack.

The way it works is if a question is found to be something most contractors should know the answer to then members check the poster's history. If it is very short or is mostly just questions,(just leaching you you please), then you'd get flagged. If you're a contributor then you'll get a pass and the help you desire.

At this point we welcome you!

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[davidbeach]

I think it boils down to this:

If you provide good and useful answers to engineering questions your are more than welcome. If you ask a bunch of questions that suggest you don't now basic engineering you will find yourself unwelcome. The more of the former the more likely a few of the latter will be allowed to slide through. All self policed by the members through the use of the Red Flag feature; all with the intent of maintaining a very high signal to noise ratio.

 

[DonPhillips]

Ryan, Ohio adopted the 2008 NEC on 1/1/08 but I have not reviewed any pland for any facility that would fall under 708. In central Ohio, we specifically discussed who would make that determination and we concluded some government agency (FEMA, Ohio, county, or city) would have to make that detemination but we as building official would not have authority to enforce the requirement unless the design professional stated on the drawings the building or a portion of a building is designed to COPS standards.

Ryan and Tsull, that are many other discussion groups within eng-tip. There is an IBC/ICC group with very little discussion and an NFPA group that mostly discusses NFPA 13 sprinkler issues.

Welcome - the more diverse everyone's experiences are, the more we all learn.


Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com

 

[RyanJackson]

Thaks for the welcome.
JGhrist: I moderate the forum that you linked to.
Don: Always a pleaseure "seeing" you.
alehman: We haven't adopted the 2008 yet (but we will in January). Article 708 really has people up in arms, mainly due to not knowing exactly which structures to apply it to.

 

[RyanJackson]

Ryan, Ohio adopted the 2008 NEC on 1/1/08...

Don: I thought Ohio rescinded adoption of the 2008 NEC.

 

[DonPhillips]

That was only for 1-, 2-, and 3-family dwellings. It was by an emergency order by the governor on 3/31 with the Board of Building Standards getting a recommendation from a committee set up to determine a compromise. Right now we are set to return to the 2008 NEC on 1/1/09 for those dwellings. For everything else, it is still 2008 NEC.

The impedence of the reversion to an older code was the adoption of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. When Ohio adopted the 2007 Ohio Building Code on 7/1/07, the energy code was postponed until 1/1/08 for dwellings, based on comments from the homebuilders not being ready. When December rolled around, not only were they crying about the energy code, but the electical code as well.

Anyway, that is the history.



Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com