Wires from surface mount box to flushmount box

pamela1963

18 years ago

My load panel is flush mounted inside my garage. My generator panel is surface mounted to the right of it, about a foot away. The THHN wiring between them is in 1" "smurf" pipe which leaves the bottom of the generator panel, goes through the drywall into the wall cavity, then enters the side of the load panel. Inspector says smurf cannot be used outside the wall cavity, and it looks sloppy, as the smurf enters at an odd angle.

Any suggestions on how to make this transition from surface to flush mount properly? I have explored using an LB box, but can't find a way to make the 90 inside the wall. The 2x4 stud wall doesn't leave much room for conduit turns or fittings to attach flexible conduit.

Any ideas? The gen panel CANNOT be flushmounted because the studs are too close together, there is plumbing in the wall, AND the power inlet is accessed from the top.

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Comments (6)

itsunclebill
18 years ago
Is this a house inspector or an electrical inspector?

"Smurf pipe", also known as electrical nonmetallic tubing or ENT, is permitted to be exposed as long as it's "not subject to damage". This can mean many things to people, but it's actually pretty tough stuff that needs a significant blow to break it.

I'd suggest if the looks bug you that building a box of sorts around the panel, and including the smurf pipe inside the box area, then covering then covering the area not filled by the panel with drywall, is probably the best and cheapest option. This takes care of the exposed issue too as nothing else is going to "look good". Conduit bodies like LBs have to be accessable so can't be inside the wall.

It sounds like you have a reasonable installation given the circumstances.
joefixit2
18 years ago
Well if you want to make it look better you could bend the smurf into the back of a surface mounted j box, then pipe into the Gen panel with emt. If theres no room to bend the smurf into a 90, you could change to Romex from the flush mount panel, bringing it into the surface mounted j box from the back, then splice the romex to THHN for the emt.

OR you could just leave it the way it is, sounds like a legal installation.
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pamela1963
Original Author
18 years ago
unclebill, this is an electrical inspector. He said the smurf it cannot be exposed less than 8' from the ground.

He suggested building a box, as you described, only trouble is there are several flush mount wall switches right below it, just a couple inches from the smurf, so I'd have to relocate those as well and the wiring in them is too short to pull them out farther.

Joe, can I just cut a hole in the back side of a pvc J box and pull the smurf through it? Or does it have to be secured to the box somehow? My idea was to use an LB outside the wall and glue the smurf into the rear opening where it penetrates the drywall, but the inspector said you can't glue smurf directly to the LB, it requires an adapter, and the adapter will stick too far into the wall to allow the smurf to make a 90.

I can't use romex, there are too many wires (10 #12's, 2 #10's and the #8 feeders, which is probably too many wires for the 1" smurf anyway, but it is only a foot long.

Such a silly little problem, but so hard to solve. You'd think they would make a productr for this purpose..., like a LB that extends into the wall for a 90.....

HMMM, would I get in trouble if I attached a PVC plumbing elbow to the back of an LB?
pharkus
18 years ago
get in trouble? Well I doubt they'd put you in prison for it... but it isn't code-compliant either. Can't use plumbing parts for electrical. Bad Pamela. Bad.
hendricus
18 years ago
Can't you just replace the Smurf with EMT?
pamela1963
Original Author
18 years ago
I'm a very bad girl. For lack of a better solution, I used the LB box with the PVC elbow behind it inside the wall....I oversized both to 1 1/4" so the wires slide through the bend easily (theres only about 8" of conduit from the elbow to the load panel) I figure the wire is better protected than it would be in either smurf or a little drywall frame-around.