I spotted this armored cable installation at a local public building. Take a close look at the routing, support, ventilation opening, and the bend above the doorway. What problems do you see—and how would you have installed it differently? Drop your observations in the comments before looking too closely at the callouts.

Welcome to our new members. Glad to have you inside The Junction Box. Quick update on the Thermal Imaging course: the first three lessons are already done and posted: - What This Course Is and Isn’t - How a Thermal Camera Actually Works - Red Doesn’t Mean Fire: Reading the Thermal Color Scale I’m currently working on the next section, which is the Cup Test Lab. The goal is to have that lab finished and posted sometime Sunday or Monday this week. I’ve also been building and editing the videos that will be embedded throughout the course. If you want a sneak peek at the kind of demonstrations coming into the program, you can check out the YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8YjTaytUYEN3sVZORh4RfA Quick question for everyone: Have you ever used a thermal camera before? Yes or no? Drop your answer in the comments. This is also a good way to start engaging in the community and building points toward unlocking future content. Welcome again to the new members.

CODE CHECK — ONE WORD CHANGED THE ANSWER Quick one. Answer in the comments before you scroll. You are running a load calculation on a single-family dwelling. The house has an attached two-car garage, unfinished, bare studs, concrete floor. Does that garage square footage go into your floor area calculation? Most electricians who learned this before 2023 will say no. That was the right answer for a long time. . . . Here is the 2020 NEC, 220.11: "For dwelling units, the calculated floor area shall not include open porches, GARAGES, or unused or unfinished spaces not adaptable for future use." Here is the 2023 NEC, 220.5(C): "For dwelling units, the calculated floor area shall not include open porches or unfinished areas not adaptable for future use as a habitable room or occupiable space." The word "garages" is gone. That is the whole change. One word deleted, and the answer flips. What is left to exclude? Only unfinished area that is NOT adaptable for future use. An attached garage is adaptable — people convert garages into living space constantly. It fails the exclusion test, so it counts. And notice what else died with that word: the finished-versus-unfinished distinction a lot of us were taught. That distinction lived inside the word that got removed. The code no longer tests for finish. It tests for adaptability. So on a 2,000 sq ft house with a 400 sq ft attached garage, you are now calculating 2,400 sq ft at 3 VA/ft2. That is 1,200 extra VA before you have added a single appliance. Enough to push a marginal service up a size. WHY THEY DID IT: garages are not habitable, but they pull real load. Freezers, compressors, openers, work lights, and now EV chargers. The code caught up to how people actually use a garage. ONE GRAY AREA: the 2023 language does not say attached or detached, and that caused arguments in the field. The 2026 cycle went back and clarified that detached garages are excluded. If you are on the 2023 book, attached counts and detached is a conversation with your AHJ.

"Is the Trades Life for You?" is a full intro course designed for anyone exploring the electrical trade — students, career changers, or someone you know who's on the fence. Share it. It's free and it's good. 👉 Is The Trades Life For You?

Welcome aboard. Quick read, then go dig into the classroom. Introduce yourself. Drop a comment below: where you're at in the trade, what you're working toward, and what you're worst at. That last one's the important one — it tells me what to build next. How levels work Courses unlock as you level up. Level 1 is first-year material, Level 2 second-year, on through Level 5. Levels 6 through 9 hold the specialty courses. You level up by showing up — posting, asking questions, answering them, helping the guy a year behind you. That's by design. The classroom is only half of what you're here for. The other half is the other tradesmen in this room. House Rules: 💡 No soliciting. No promoting your business, your course, your channel, or affiliate links. Not in posts, not in comments, not in DMs to members. This one gets you removed. 💡 Ask the question. Nobody here got good by pretending they already knew. There's no such thing as a dumb question in this room. 💡 Answer when you can. The best answers here come from members, not me. If you know it, share it. 💡 Keep it professional. Argue code all day — that's how we all get sharper. Don't make it personal. 💡 Safety first. No advice that puts a person on the wrong end of an arc flash. Cite your section when it matters. Code varies. We work off the NEC, but your AHJ and adopted code year are what govern your job. Verify locally before you pull wire. What's Coming: I'm building this out one module at a time — theory, AC vs. DC, conduit bending, motors and motor controls, and more. Watch for polls. What you vote on is what I build. Glad you're here. Let's get to work. ⚡