Is Conduit Required In The Attic In Nj

The national electrical code has specific regulations for how many conductor wires can fit into within a conduit of each diameter size.

Is conduit required in the attic in nj.

I m building a new home outside the city limits in liberty county in texas my electrician ran the main power feed wire from the meter through the exterior wall up into the attic and down into the breaker panel without any conduit. This guide is not designed to reflect the actual energy code with amendments if any adopted in new jersey and does not. It does not provide a guarantee for meeting the iecc. Uf cable can be direct buried without conduit with a minimum of 24 inches of earth cover.

Wiring in pvc conduit must have at least 18 inches of cover. This guide is an energy code compliance aid for new jersey based upon the simple prescriptive option of the 2009 iecc. This is especially true when you need to curve the wires around a bend which further limits the space inside the conduit. When romex is run across rafters in an open unfinished attic it is my position that a raceway of some kind 1x3 s or even 2x4 s should first be attached across the affected rafters perhaps 3 to 4 above the joists then the wiring be stapled to the raceway.

This will protect the wiring from being accidentally snagged. I cannot find this specifically in code so here is my question. If this meets code then i will be running attic wiring in this manner from now on. Whenever i do attic wiring i remove the insulation and staple it to the ceiling joist.

I was also under the impression that if wiring is in an attic space that it may need to be derated because it can get very hot up there. The most common wires are thhn wires which are individual copper conducting wires with a color coded heat resistant plastic insulation around them. The volume of regulators inside the conduit is limited by code so it might not work to use conduit.