more on cabling

[imported_bdweller]

Thanks for the in-depth description on cabling. In wiring my basement, I have not tied together large bundles of wires. However, there is a twelve foot run (with ten different 14 and 12 gauge romex wires going to various places) along the side of a ceiling joist. To save space, I doubled up some of wires by stacking and stapling them. So they wouldn't sag, I placed the staples about every ten inches. Because the stacked wires are not twisted and based on your description of cabling, I'm concerned that the wire sandwiched between the joist and top wire may not be able to release the heat you spoke of. Should I stack romex wire?

Thanks for all your help.

[Wgoodrich]

Romex is required to be supported [normally stapled] every 4 feet 6 ". You are stapling every 10". While this is not a code violation you may have a situation that is TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING. Seldom is it possible to have too much of a good thing but in electrical many people especially occasional electricians tend to do more than safe they think yet creating a safety hazard in their attempt to do more than required. Example would be install 10 awg wire where the NEC allows 14 or 12 awg wire. While bigger is better in electrical bigger may be worse. If this 10 awg wire in an attempt to do better that the NEC is attached to a receptacle then they just created a Code and UL violation becuase 10 awg is not approved on general use 15 or 20 amp receptacles. Also a second more is not better example would be running 240 amps to general use receptacles that are requried to be only 120 volt rated is allowed. While the 240 volts would be more power it would be too much power for the equipment used. Kind of like putting a full blown hemi engine in a lawnmower so it would run 100 miles per hour, would not be a good thing.

I see no code violation in your stapling design yet if it were me I would remove about 50 % of those staples to let that wire lay more loosely promoting cooling.

Hope this helps

Wg