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IMC is lighter and less expensive than rigid metal conduit, but you
can use it in all of the same locations as RMC. Though IMC has
thinner walls than RMC, IMC is actually the stronger of the two —
because of the steel alloy used to make it.
The NEC has long required that raceways be secured within 36 in. of
enclosures. Although it was generally accepted that this allowed
raceways less than 36 in. to be unsupported, some inspectors
required these short raceways to be supported, because there was no
allowance for an unsupported raceway.
Section 342.46 in the 2011 NEC clarifies how this protection should
be provided: To protect conductors from abrasion, a metal or plastic
bushing must be installed on conduit termination threads, regardless
of conductor size, unless the box, fitting, or enclosure is designed to
provide this protection [342.46] (click here to see Fig. 1).
Over the last few Code cycles, Art. 348 has been revised to allow for
greater lengths of unsupported FMC in installations where flexibility
is a concern. While these changes have gone a long way toward
uniform understanding and enforcement, not all NEC users agree on
how to measure these raceways. With the revisions introduced in
2011, it becomes clear that measurement begins at the last point of
support for these systems.
The NEC requires equipment to have an equipment grounding
conductor (EGC). It’s been common to use the metal strip in FMC as
the EGC. But what about vibration? It can be argued that an
unusually high amount of vibration can compromise the integrity of
FMC’s ability to act as an EGC, so now 348.60 requires an EGC of
the wire type in those instances (click here to see Fig. 2). This
change provides consistency with the requirements contained in
250.118(5).
The changes we discussed for FMC in Art. 348 were also made for
LFMC in Art. 350.
While 358.10(B) permits you to install EMT in corrosive areas (if you
use corrosion protection approved as suitable for the location), the
time seeking such approval — and the cost of implementing it —
would certainly add significantly to the project cost. Therefore, it’s
usually much more effective to choose an alternative raceway, such
as PVC.
Metal Wireways
Metal wireways are commonly used where access to the conductors
within the raceway is required to make terminations, splices, or taps
to several devices at a single location. High cost precludes their use
for other than short distances, except in some commercial or
industrial occupancies where the wiring is frequently revised. Both
metal wireways and nonmetallic wireways are often called “troughs”
or “gutters” in the field.
With the 2011 revision, the “Uses Permitted” section was changed to
recognize wet location use [376.10]. You can use metal wireways:
For exposed work.
In any hazardous (classified) location, as permitted by other
articles in the NEC.
Wet locations, where the wireway is listed for the purpose.
Unbroken through walls, partitions, and floors. The catch:
Access to the conductors must be maintained on both sides of
the wall.
With so many types of raceway, how can you keep all the
requirements straight? Well, there’s a pattern that’s usually
consistent from Article to Article. In fact, many of the requirements
are the same, and the Articles are laid out in a similar manner.
For example, say you are trying to decide between IMC and EMT for
a particular application. Turn to Sec. 10 of Art. 342 and Art. 358, and
read the Uses Permitted. Then, read the Uses Not Permitted in
Section 12. This will tell you if you can use either wiring method for a
particular application. If both pass this test, then you can work
through each Article and compare the requirements of the two
raceways.