Did ROMEX Cable Change Again? (NM-B Update)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I will go over a new change to ROMEX or NM-B cable which is just now hitting the shelves of our home improvement stores and supply houses. Will it become a new industry standard? I think it will.
The graphics (timeline, old pictures) are a nice touch. Liked seeing the old stuff as a contrast to how far we've come today.
Thank you..
@@BackyardMaine
Thanks to that chart, I now know that the nm cable in the house I live in was made circa 1950s!😅😢😂
That's it! I'm rewiring to the latest fashions!
🤣😂🤣😂
Came for the update - stayed for the history lesson! Great video John!
Awesome! Thank you!
Came to the comments to say the same thing!
Excellent video: to the point, good lighting, no obnoxious music, no stammering, stuttering, stumbling. Five stars and a master class on video presentation. Thank you.
Couldn’t agree more. He really has it dialed in and comes across with the goods. Love this channel.
Agree!
And no attempts at playing the clown.
Wow, thank you so much..
Thank you!
As a licensed electrician, I can’t understand why the change came from the manufacturer and not the NEC. It’s a smart idea, and I wonder how the advisory boards never came up with it
Because they are concerned with electrical safety and have no remit on making life easier for installers. Besides there would bound to be some people complaining about unnecessary regulations.
I've seen and used light pink 12/2. In the end the colors will make things standard, but if you're doing remodelling then you'll never be sure that that white romex you find is 14/2, 14/3 or 12/2 (or, indeed, any other size used in the past). I think they should have dumped white altogether so you know that if you see white in a remodel then you need to do some extra checking.
@@jonathanbuzzard1376 The wire company is concerned with electrical safety? Now that’s a good one…
@@rmhanseniii No the NEC is concerned only with electrical safety and as the color of the cable is irrelevant to electrical safety they don't mandate colors, which is why it is left to manufacturers.
@@jonathanbuzzard1376 I understand that, but why do the manufacturers care? I could make a case that it would fall under electrical safety. The NFPA mandates what colors conductors must be…
Fantastic video - I am a master electrician that primarily works with high voltage critical infrastructure, this video is proof that you never stop learning in our trade. I had no idea of the history of NMD or they made flat 3 wire NMD cables. 5 minutes of my life well spent :) thanks John!
Thank you for providing great, concise information without any extra wording. A joy to listen to.
I can see it now, you're wiring an addition and the housewife come up to you and says, I was just at my friends house and she told me they used blue and pink wire in her addition, why aren't you using that in mine? The wire you are using is ugly, can you to change my wire to blue and pink?
I couldn't resist.
Good video.
I'm still laughing because that story rings true.
@@BackyardMaine One of the happiest days in my work carrier was when my boss said, we were no longer going to do residential work, just commercial/ industrial.
I really enjoyed the fact you listed the history of NM cable, found that even more interesting than going over the new jacket color codes which I've began to notice earlier this month while shopping at my local home depot.
I never realized it's history traces it's roots to a couple of years before 1925, because I've helped with several remodel projects over the years in Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina, and every home I've been in that was built in the 1930s or before had remnants of knob and tube, along with the early cotton braid NM. A few homes I've seen were before the 1920s and skipped knob and tube altogether and went straight to the 1st gen NM because the house was in a rural area where electricity was unavailable until the end of WWII.
The farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan with the deadly Chicago 3 way for the yardlight installed in the early 50s I mentioned in that video about a month ago, was built in 1908, yet there was no evidence of knob and tube when I was trying to figure out that 3 way, because electricity was unavailable until 1951 according to the farmer. There was however, lots of cotton or rayon braid NM cable in the basement, although I don't recall any of it being 3 wire, which kinda makes me wonder if there were other Chicago 3 ways in the house, considering it was wired by the father and grandfather of the farmer, and they experienced the harsh economic times of the 1930s and a major advantage of Chicago 3 ways were that they could keep constant power on both ends while switching a luminaire using 3 wires instead of four.
Interesting info my friend. You know I'm not sure if the early romex offered a 3-wire option. I'll have to look into that. I don't think I have ever seen one either.
@@BackyardMaine very interesting. If circa 1950 NM was only made in 2 wire version, then my guess would be that the 3 way switches in that farmhouse in Sanilac County michigan were all the deadly Chicago method using a single stranded conductor like THHN or something like that from each switch box to the light?? Unless of course the other 3 ways were added later on after the introduction of 3 wire NM. None of that ever crossed my mind when I was working there because I was so frustrated with trying to figure out how that yardlight would get blown with 240V in one of the four switch positions, before it dawned on me that the farmer did move some breakers around in the barn to make room for a 2 pole 20 to power the air compressor he just brought, when the yardlight dilemma started. I would like to hope and believe everyone in that house knew enough to wear rubber gloves or turn the breaker off before fiddling with a "de-energized" light fixture 🥶😯
@@Sparky-ww5re Those Chicago 3 ways were dangerous because of the switched neutrals which is a big NO NO! today
@@BackyardMaine Early romex did indeed have a 3 wire version. I have seen a few houses here in Canada that were wired in the 1930s. The 3-way switches at the top and bottom of staircases would use 14-3 romex with cloth and rubber insulation on the individual wires. We refer to this early romex as second generation wiring since it came after knob and tube which was first generation. By the 1950s houses moved to NM cable with 60 C rated conductors. Individual conductors had plastic insulation but the whole cable assembly was now wrapped in synthetically spun rayon. During the 50s romex with undersized ground wires started to appear as well. It is called NMD-3 with ground and was initially only used for major appliance circuits as well as circuits feeding outlets on exterior walls. By the early 60s grounding was required everywhere so NMD-3 with ground became the standard. In the late 60s- early 70s NMD-5 and NMD-7 were introduced. These still had the synthetically spun rayon but the individual conductors were now rated for 75 and 90 C respectively. NM or romex cable with a PVC outer jacket did not become common until the 1980s here. I don't know if it's just me or does that old romex with the synthetically spun rayon jacket have a very unique smell to it. I have heard theories that the grease they put on the jacket would come from beetles. Also, fun fact, in Canada we didn't adopt GFCIs until later and they are still not required in laundry rooms or garages.
@@CompGuy66 I haven't done a ton of work in old houses. Thanks for the info.
here's the mind blower: the color coding wasn't adopted for electricians or inspectors. it was adopted to make inventory control easier.
That makes sense!
Here's another mind blower, you can order individual conductors of thhn in purple. It's mostly used to pull travelers on commercial jobs. However, it's also sometimes used in control circuits.
@@ianbelletti6241 you can also get pink.
@@ianbelletti6241 not really a mind blower. You can order thhn in just about any color you want
@@ianbelletti6241 Interesting
When are they adding the 16/2 Romex for LED lighting branch circuits?
Is anyone in the trade actually using 16 gauge? Or is it just a Canadian thing stickin to 14 gauge min on any 120v + circuits?
Or are you wiring 12v DC led's on that 16 gauge?
Will that go along with a 10A breaker? It makes sense to use less copper if you are just wasting it running LED lights that have about 1/6 the power requirements. Copper is expensive and it is probably only going to keep increasing.
I've seen 16 gauge wire use for thermostats and sprinkler systems. Never on lighting though.
No.. 16 gauge NM-B isn't available just yet but I think it's coming soon.
The goal is 16awg on a 10amp overcurrent device for lighting circuits..
16/2-3 10 amp is next..I wonder about those colors.
I hope. For lighting circuits this would be perfect
Meh 14 is fine why change it just another roll of wire to tote
As an electrician for 41 years, why doesn’t the code require residential smoke detectors to be wired and interconnected with 14/3 RED jacketed Romex? That would be just common sense.
Good idea,not being a smart ass,but you should bring this to the attention of your local code council representative.Guy I used to work for,who owns the electrical company is a code representative,hell I didn’t even know,until a few years later we were talking and he told me,he had been a rep for years..Never know.
Some jurisdictions require smoke detectors to be wired to lighting circuits so you will know if the breaker is off or tripped. Others require a dedicated circuit. The NEC doesn't require either and neither does the fire code. But for this reason red cable for detectors may not always make sense.
@@kyzor-sosay6087 I brought it to my town code making panel and got a positive response. They think it’s a good idea and will study it, they said.
Since smoke alarms just need standard 120v power like anything else why would I want to stock different inventory for those to get a red color when regular wire is identical. It doesn’t make sense to stock two colors for the same wire size and type.
If you are thinking that the red would discourage someone from extending the smoke power for a new light circuit then you should understand that in some areas that smokes must share a light circuit.
In Canada, red jacket is already used for 20amp 2-pole circuits (12/2, black and red inner sheaths, mainly for heating, at least residentially).
This excellent video just might have scored a new total points record from me on TH-cam. Masterfully researched. Dense. Perfect presentation. No silly music. Top-notch graphics. Thank you.
Interesting. Considering 16 AWG is getting added to the 2024 NEC, I would have thought that would get the new color.
I was recently wondering if smaller wire would start being used for lighting circuits with led lighting becoming the norm 14/2 seems like overkill for most residential lighting applications. I’m not an electrician but I am capable of basic wiring.
@@byronn.2885 I think lighting circuits is the plan along with new 10A breakers.
@michaelmolter8828
> Considering 16 AWG is getting added to the 2024 NEC,
You poor buggers - that stuff breaks if you just look at it funny.
When you start finding that you need to put bootlace ferrules onto the ends of conductors to stop terminal screws from slicing through them, you start thinking "why so bleeping thin?".
@@michaelmolter8828
> @byronn.2885 I think lighting circuits is the plan along with new 10A breakers.
In the UK, lighting circuits have been 6A breakers, and before that 5A fuses, for ever. I still prefer to use 1.5mm² cable.
@@byronn.2885 Most houses combine receptacles and lights on a single circuit rather than adding an entire extra run all the way back. And in a lot of cases where they are really being pennywise and pound foolish, or old houses, they don't even bother with ceiling-lamp outlets and expect the occupant to plug in stand-alone lamps.(Possibly a split/half-switched outlet where a wall switch near the door is required by code.)
It's not how I would have my house wired, but it is cheap.
Thank you again. As always I learn something new from your videos
My pleasure! As always thanks for watching my friend.
I Dig It, and yes, it makes it easily identifiable from a glance
Color coding should have been standardized 50 years ago!
We already had blue cables to identify 15 amp arc protected (AFCI) circuits for the bedrooms...
Thanks for keeping us up to date!
You bet! Thanks for watching my videos..
What about 16/2 and 16/3 colors for LED lighting circuits? Have you seen any 10 amp breakers in the big box stores yet?
They haven't manufactured 16 gauge NM cable yet. I do expect to see it soon though. I don;t see 10A breakers at the big box stores but you can get them from the supply house.
LEd is boring. As a plasma fanatic I will just stick with my fluorescent lamps.
I just bought some 14-3 for a ceiling fan wire and noticed the new colors and was wondering when it happened. Thank you for the info and the history lesson
My pleasure. Thanks for commenting..
Grew up in a house built in 1920 (60 Amp was original service).
In addition to the original knob-n-tube wiring for lighting,
I saw everyone one of the NM types shown by John (lived that history).
John,After I retired from the USAF and was working for Builders Square in 1993-ish. They paid for a NEC course of me. At the course I learnt that regular people could recommend changes to the code. I emailed my suggestions to the NFPA about the color change. Years latter I saw the color changes I wrote them about. Can I take credit for this? Jerry from McCellean
Maybe you can Jerry.. lol They do still have public input that's reviewed by the individual CMP that are responsible for the 18 sections of the code.
Maybe you could write again and suggest that they change their white colored romex to something else. In that way, when you do a remodel you know that all white wire is old and you have to check carefully to see what size it is.
From a safety POV, it's only the small sizes 14, 12 and maybe 10 that are confusable. Once you up at 8 gauge it's pretty hard to mistake.
@@mb-3faze That is a good idea. I think you should submit this on your own.
As always, top-quality content. Not to be missed. Thank you!
Much appreciated my friend!
Purple is pale enough to be confused with pink. Come on manufacturers; use a little more pigment. Is it too much to make it look like a grape jawbreaker (without the sheen/polish)?
I saw the pink the other day and it's a bright pink.
I love the vertical timeline, that's surprisingly helpful as you're talking.
I used an old roll of Romex a few years ago...
It was white... BUT it was 12g
Yup the color change hit my area around 2001. When I built my home in 1998 all the wire was white including the 10 gauge.
It would be nice if they would come up with a color to differentiate between 8 and 6 NM cable rather than them both being black.
I wonder if the new colors are designed to address certain forms of color blindness? I remember the color-blind mode for some video games use blue and purple, not red and green, to indicate the 2 competing teams.
Color blindness is the reason “Reclaimed Water” distribution pipes are purple. Making them easier do identify.
@MMuraseofSandvich
> I wonder if the new colors are designed to address certain forms of color blindness?
> I remember the color-blind mode for some video games use blue and purple, not
> red and green, to indicate the 2 competing teams.
Reg/green colour-blindness (the most common type, I believe) was why we changed from line being red and earth being green in the UK to brown and green-&-yellow-striped respectively.
Apparently getting line and earth mixed up had safety issues....
Thanks for mentioning the underground color of gray. I can just imagine how I would feel if I was enjoying the information about the colors and then be stumped or have misconceptions if I'd come across the gray.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching my friend.
imagine how grumpy I was to find a roll of white UF.
The US doesn't use armoured cable for outdoor and underground cabling. Always surprised by that. Maybe it will eventually catch on. It's used in Europe, particularly Britain - maybe it's because UK wiring is 240V as standard.
@@mb-3faze that's because our armored cable is both susceptible to corrosion, and not waterproof. why bother putting armored cable in the ground, when the armor will dissolve into dust? and it's prohibitively expensive to make AC with seamless stainless steel armor. if we need better protection than UF provides, we run conduit. and really, conduit is the norm, and UF is reserved for applications where it's too difficult to run the conduit; or where the installer wants to be as cheap as possible.
@@kenbrown2808 The British standards organization ensure that armored cable is corrosion resistant and waterproof. Sometimes the armor is aluminum but either way similar cable is used for under-sea applications. Britain is hardly a dry place. Most often buried cables are constantly damp. Putting the physical protection on the cable itself saves installation time and costs over conduit. Armored cable is available in the US - just not often used in residential applications. Different countries, different regulations.
The supply house delivered 2 pallets of pink 10/3 the other day. I was like well ok this is different. It's better for the long run any way you look at it.
was a buider mostly residential...lot of remodels...saw progression from knob and tube thru the original colors...also the added protection of grounding including reguiring switchs have a grd...good informative video
they should color code CCA with stripes or something.
Good info about Romex cable. What about BX armor clad cable? I can remember it being required for commercial and industrial usage.
Love your informative videos
Thank you!
Stripes seem like a much better idea... Then you don't have to remember an extra color...
What a simple, yet extensive explanation of NM. As an amateur DIY electrician, this is gold!
Happy you enjoyed the information. Thanks for watching.
90C rated but can only use the 60C rating. A whole lot of safety factor going on there. Art 334.80
I figured Romex came up with the light blue, purple and pink cables to thwart theft. No self-respecting thief would be caught dead with those pretty colors.
It was to appease the Froot Loop Alphabet Soup Group.
I've seen plenty of flat 12/3 and 14/3 NM-B over at least the last 5 years, at least from Southwire. In yellow/white, not these new colors. I haven't seen the round stuff in a while. Not sure when it changed, and if it was only Southwire (or just a regional thing maybe)?
I’m old enough to have worked with all of the designs you described up to the 2024 updates. Home electrical is not my profession so the timeline and specifics escaped me. I found this video very informative and interesting. You do a great job with your videos!
Thank you my friend.
Still just a bit too early. Good contrail from the booster, was able to pick up the 2nd stage, but no "jellyfish" visible.
I think NM cable has been around even earlier. I help with maintenance for a building (commercial) built in 1909. The place was fitted with rigid conduit from the beginning. Most of the building was rewired in the 1990's, but there were a couple areas that were abandoned. I pulled the wire out of a section of the conduit and it had what looked like early NM cable: woven outer jacket and tarred woven insulation on the individual conductors inside. You couldn't tell which was white or black (if there was a difference). I don't think that any of the building was rewired at any point prior to the 1990's. When the rest of the building was rewired it still had fused neutral ceramic fuse blocks with individual knife switches on each circuit in hand built asbestos panel box.
I check my information with several sources. Maybe the building was wired later when electricity was available in the area?
Since it was in conduit, could it have been the time equivalent to basically lamp cords? I've seen some antique lamps and radios from around that time with exactly the wire you describe.
That's old cloth wrapped rubber core wire, which is what they had to pull through the rigid conduit. It's not a cable it is individual conductors, although the cloth wrap makes it look similar to the earliest NM cable albeit smaller.
I see the rigid conduit and cloth wrapped wire in my area in structures built from the 1920's right up through the early 1940's. The pipe was bent with what is now called a "hickey" bender and often doesn't have the correct radius as well as flattened diameter, making it sometimes difficult to use a standard fish tape. The cloth wrapped rubber insulation is infamous for crumbling at the slightest disturbance.
@@chrisw2995especially if its been cooking behind a ceiling fixture with 3 60w bulbs and "sealing" insulation on top of the fixture.
Dang, this makes me feel old because I realized I bought 250 foot boxes of 14-2 and 12-2 back in 1992 and haven't bought any Romex since then. I didn't even realize that there were new colored sheaths.
Time is funny like that isn't it?
I've also heard 2024 code allows 16 gauge wire for 10-amp lighting circuits, since LEDs are now in widespread use. Is there a 16 gauge Romex yet?
Yes, I made a video on that a while back. No.. 16 gauge NM-B isn't available just yet but I think it's coming soon.
Yeah but a cities codes can be more strict..Here there are several cities that outlaw anything smaller size than 12 awg..
Thanks for the quick history lesson. Interesting to see new colors as well.
I remember even back in the 70s some romex had different color sheathings I remember black sheathing, and I also remember blue sheathing as well
Yes there was blue sheathing 😊
@@donwerkheiser6180 Was the different colors back then because of manufacturing preferences or different temperature ratings ?
I like electric history lessons, now I know what NB stands for, but I'll forget in 6 months so you'll have to remind me again. I still remember that metallic wire coverings in in my parents house, and remember my older BIL adding some outlets with that new NB wire in early 1960s, the house had about 4 outlets downstairs with 6 lights, nothing upstairs, one light in 16'x16' dirt cellar, by 1967 my BIL doubled it and all ran on 60 amp fuse box. Those were simple times and everyone knew what a woman was..........
I'm a big fan of color coting for identifications, but they still refuse to comply with my color wishes and demands, my demands are simple and easier for DIYs, I demand all HOT wires be RED, and all GROUND wires be GREEN, black for hot is the most blank blank blank bkankaty blank color for hot!!!! Has anyone ever seen a black fire or white ground, in July, in the US mainland.....
Pink, Blue and Purple Romex cables and Pink, Blue treated Lumber.... What next?
Super. Great video, but what color is 14/4g Romex going to be? 💙 T.E.N.
Never knew where the Romex name came from or how old it was.
My house is a museum. Built in 1925, it has some abandoned knob and tube, pre 1950 cotton romex, 1960 rayon, 1970 plastic, and 2000 colour coded Romex (plus a variety of BX armoured cable).
What this video missed was that the older cotton varnish romex and some BX could come with a FLAT grounding strip/wire.
Also, for old Romex and BX, those individual plastic insulated conductors would ALSO be sheathed in a cotton sleeve, which IS ANNOYING to work with as it unravels and splays out at the ends (wrap with tape if you want to stay neat). That old plastic is now incredibly brittle, especially around hot light fixtures. In many cases, it is the old cotton sheath holding the cracked plastic together to keep from shorting.
My 1970's dryer is a direct-wired General Electric with cotton sheathed 10-3 WITH ground (might have been 14 guage) which was a nice safety touch.
3 wire plus ground. Like for smoke detectors and stuff like that? Thanks for sharing with us.
Rainbow colors !
I like the color coding but not the colors they used.. I think using large stripe would have been better..but that may just the old telephone gut in me talking..
Pink and purple are poor choices. 98% of electricians are men and >8% of American men have some degree of color blindness, usually making colors like pink and purple hard to discern from other colors like blue. A better choice would have been bright red instead of purple, which will retain far greater contrast with blue for the vast majority of men who have slight to moderate Daltonism.
Well done video, and it only took five and a half minutes. It's good to see more colors adopted.
Thank you..
Awesome documentation, especially the time stamps
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.
That blue is a very similar hue to the most common color for copper ethernet. I hope I don't get confused someday in the future
They really should standardize the color codes across the board! Would make it better for everyone involved. I don't see what the problem is in doing this. Thanks for vid!
Thanks John! Interesting hisotry.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
Which is more significant? UK wiring adding yellow insulation for ground inside the cable reducing an install step or changing the outer sheath layer?
Good video...Color coding makes it easier for inspectors and with the three wire additions will also make box fill inspections faster...
My kitchen was remodeled in the 60's and actually has black vinyl 12/2 with 16g ground conductors. So apparently there was some overlap between moving from the cloth wire and ground wire size requirements. The sunroom that was later built onto the kitchen also has black vinyl 12/2 but with 12g ground wire, that was done in the early 70's.
I have seen the black and some dark grey as well. Not sure what brand it was though. Mostly it was white but there was some others but nothing was standardized until around 2001.
Thanks for the informative video. 🙇🏿♂️
When companies self standardize it fosters trust in the products. They could have easily wanted to push their color selection as a trademark perk of their product (not saying it would pass the courts, but they could have tried), and raised a stink when another company came out with similar colors. For safety critical things, like mains wiring, its always a good thing to not stand it the way of more companies adopting a standard whether your company was the first to do it or not. Of course....this is something non-safety related products still need to learn (gives the old flip phones, the phone battery market, and the early anti-customer ARGB market, the stink eye....YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!!!).
Luckily we have NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) to help keep things standardized.
As someone who is mildly red/green colorblind, it's sometimes a struggle to tell the difference between blue and purple. They should have just added blue hashes or stripes to indicate 3-1 conductors instead of changing the color of the entire jacket.
For example, white with a blue stripe could indicate 14/3. Yellow with a blue stripe is 12/3. And so on.
Loved the history. I had just researched the history of the name Romex last year, I was just curious. But great to see it again. If I recall correctly, Southwire bought the brand name from Rome Wire when Rome cable was needing money but my memory could certainly be incorrect.
My Dad started building the house I now own in 1948. The earlier rooms had the old cloth NM covered with a black tar like substance. Later rooms had the more familiar green NM. All of the wires has the think ground in (my Dad thought ahead on safety and was a fan of grounding before most). I always wondered why there were always two NM cables for 3 way switches (1 conductor unused) and I just thought he used what he had since money was tight, It never occurred to me that 3 conductor wasn't available back then. I've since rewired one wide of the house and starting the other side soon. The entire house was originally on four fuses even though the panel was changed to breakers in the 60s. The UF cable from about 1959 or 1960 is all gray.
When they added the yellow and orange, I always wondered why they didn't add a color for 14 gauge, which would mean anything white would have to be checked for the gauge. I can feel the gauge by bending it, but I know some people struggle with some white being 14 and some being 12.
I also wished all manufactures insulated the ground wire with green insulation. I do have some cable from the 60's like that. Sometimes it would be nice to not have all those bare wires floating around such as in some panels.
I wonder what color 16 will be?
Thank you for great content and including the history which was icing on the cake.
Interesting. Thanks!
So I guess its time to replace the cloth wrapped romex in my house.
Great video. Although I’m retired, I still enjoy keeping up with Code changes and new developments in equipment, tools and tech.
Great to hear!
Surprised they would use any color a shade of red.
@sc5015
> Surprised they would use any color a shade of red.
Why?
@@anonnona8099 Red is used for alarm systems.
Colors are there for inspectors to complain about....
Just use 3 conductor wire for everything. You have a spare wire just in case you want to make some changes.
They need to get off the blue. Blue is data cabling in most uses.
/3 has such niche use cases ... it really didnt need a whole new coloring scheme. If electricians cant figure out how many conductors are in a cable, there are bigger issues at play
I have never wired a home without multiple 3-way switches.
Great video! I am only used to the European NYM type, 3 conductor and 5 conductor cables. They are all round and not color coded. I like the color coding for the NM type.
I thought the new colors were only for pride month. lol
I'm retired Electrician of 40 years you just got me updated. Thanks Sir!
I've lived in houses with all the older style of cables and even knob and tube. I really like the new color coding and flat cable. Also, excellent video, no fluff, no music, and no fumbling or stuttering around. Very considerate of my time.
Had to be a female that come up with the new colors.
Nice! More color standards for 3-wire cable!
Why a different color for the same gauge wire? It makes no sense. I can understand having different colored sheathing for different gauges of wire, but different colors for the number of wires in the sheathing makes no sense to me.
@@twn5858 Three wire cables are used for three-way switches. The new colors will be helpful for both the installer and inspector, as mentioned in the video. Anything that makes inspections go quicker is good for the customer.
I don't know about that. If the inspector can't tell the difference between a 14-3 and a 14-2 wire he probably doesn't know what he's doing anyways.
I think it would make it easy to identify a multi-wire branch circuit at a glance and for electricians to know what they have in the truck at a quick glance.. I like the idea but the colors would not be my first choice.
@@twn5858 But it does help to quickly identify all homeruns back at the panel..
I typically get 12/2 with ground. Now that NEC is requiring neutrals in switch boxes, it would behoove me to just buy subsequent 12 gauge wires with the purple jacket. Also heard a buzz about a neutral being required for every hot wire, but I haven't looked that up yet, in which case 12/4 with ground is needed. If I had my way 14 gauge wire would go away.
Yes, the requirement for a neutral at each switch is based on the increasing number of electronic switches that require a neutral for the switch internal electronics..
@@boeing757pilot It should befall the person that wants such a ridiculous thing. I am tired of having to modify my behavior to conform with someone else's wishes, especially when it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with safety. No one had ever made anything convenient for me. Why should I be required to make it convenient for someone else to do such a ridiculous thing ? The idea of a switch is to STOP the flow of current, Not keep shoving current into the circuit.
@@michaeljavert4635
But, the electronic switch needing the "neutral" IS a safety issue. Absent the neutral, the switch is being connected to the EGC and placing current on that..
Very nice video. Very interesting info. Feel sorry for the color blind electrician!
Thanks for watching!
White 14/3, Yellow 12/3 and Orange 10/3 worked well. Can't mistake a 2 wire from a 3 wire. Great video.
The new 3 wire is flat, so it is much easier to install, staple and strip.
Short, to the point yet packed with information! LOVED the history lesson and the graphics were on point!
Thank you..
Thanks for the heads up, new news to me. If I'd seen those strange colors I would have asked "that come from Temu"?
Love this, John. I was happy when 12/2 went to yellow. Now this is great! I love it when manufacturers take the initiative to make improvements.
I found it interesting when I spotted it on the shelves Ed. I knew I found a video idea.. lol
Great history overview! I'm in favor of the additional color codes, myself.
And then there is 10-2 running on a 20 amp circuit-due to distance. Not automatically on a 30 amp circuit breaker.
I put a panel in a detached garage, and, ran 12 and 10 back to the house. Conduit fill and distance. Derate for both. 1956 original panal was in the bed closet.
It's rated for a maximum of 30A. You can also go down.
This was interesting. I know my house was built in the 60s. Some of the wiring is that fabric insulated type, but they have a thin (definitely smaller than 14 gauge) aluminum ground. The hot and neutral conductor are both copper. From the info here, it seems like it was likely built between 62 and 65.
Thank you for this video, and the wire history lesson. My house was built in 1921, I redid 80-90% of the wiring, mainly because it still had a lot of knob and tube, but it also had two other types of cables used because two sets of renovations were done before I started. With this I can now confirm the era they were done.
If you own a wire company and your wife really thinks that there should be pink, purple and pale blue wires, it's not worth the fight and you just make wire in those colors. Otherwise you end up only owning half a wire company.
Wow! I just replaced an outlet in my kitchen and I was so confused why the ground was so thin. House built 1963! Amazing info thank you!
Not an Electrian, but as a homeowner. The color change help me identify an electrical plug added to a existing circuit, which lead to the discovery of a hidden junction box.
Interesting video. When I saw the colors in the thumbnail, I thought it was 16-2 and 16-3 hitting the shelves.
when in Rome, Do as the Romex 😄
Working in plastics for a short time led me to realize that some colors are selected because of the lines that run certain colors in the plant. For instance, if you mix orange and blue, you get gray. So run a blue line near an orange line, regrind can go in either (in the middle layer). This works for a lot of colors. Similarly, changing colors was easier from blue to orange. I would imagine, some of the colors you see in various similar plastics are based on the colors available mixed, ratios controlled by servos in the hoppers.
Blue looks like comm lines. Yuck
John, thanks for that great explanation of the new colors. You pondered if other manufacturers would pick up on what Rome Mfg has done; well, it's been my experience that when there is technology like this, it is far better for everyone to jump on the same bandwagon ASAP, otherwise the government will step in. And you know what happens when 535 raisins start poking into things they have no direct knowledge of. On the other hand, as was the case with Apple (much to their chagrin), new mobile devices are required to use USB-C instead of the lightning cable in this case. I think that was a good change. :)
Violet !