National Electrical Code Articles and Information

Code Quiz: Article 368

Based on the 2014 NEC

Questions and answers written by Mark Lamendola, who has worked as a master electrician, electrical inspector, and design engineer. Mark is an IEEE Senior Member, and the Code article author for Codebookcity.com. Since 1996, he has been writing National Electrical Code articles for electrical trade magazines and has an extensive portfolio of hundreds of NEC articles..

After a series of Articles on various raceways, from Article 350 to Article 362, the NEC jumps to Article 366. Then the normal sequence of raceway Articles resumes, bringing us to Article 368.

When you run conduit or tubing, you must pull conductors through them. There's a lot of calculation and assembly. With gutters (Article 366), you can alleviate some of this assembly work But because of the way you use gutters, limitations are fairly severe. There's no way you could, for example, distribute 480V power throughout a manufacturing plant using gutters. This, however, doesn't mean you have to do that distribution in conduit or tubing.

Another wiring method that is very useful (especially for things such as 480V power distribution in a manufacturing plant) is the busway. Article 368 provides the requirements for using this wiring method (and associated fittings) in service-entrance, feeder, and branch-circuit applications [368.1].

1. Article 368 is a Chapter 3 article addressing a specific wiring method. Which wiring method does it address, and what are its defining characteristics?
    

2. Name three permitted uses for this wiring method.
    

3. Name the prohibited uses for this wiring method.
    

4. What type hardware is permitted for supporting this wiring method?
    

5. What restriction is there on using couplings and connectors with gutters?

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