I live in Florida and I have a Drop celing in one of the rooms in my
house.  I need to run a switch from a light, down an exterior wall,
but an unable to go inside the wall.  I was planning on just running
the wire down the wall to the switch box but someone said that It was
required by the Electrical code to case any visible wire in conduit. 
If that is true then can I use left over white PVC or am I reqired by
code to use the grey electrical PVC conduit?
Summary,
Does residential electrical code require visible wire to be cased in conduit?
Can I use white PVC or does code require I use the Grey PVC?

Hi burning2fast...

While Google Answers is a great resource
for information, most researchers would
ask you to seek a professional from your
area to verify the validity of our replies
when it deals with a situation that could
cause you financial or bodily harm when
all of the facts aren't known.

I am making this disclaimer because
when dealing with electricity, serious
injury to personal property or health
can result.

Also, because of the situation, instead
of my doing a web search that could result
in errors due to perception of information,
or lack of insight by the webpage creator,
I contacted a licensed electrical contractor
from your area and asked specifically about
the regional code for this project.

I called 
[ http://yellowpages.superpages.com/profile~C_electrician~T_miami~S_FL~STYPE_S~CID_517521~LID_6Z0Z15pU9Vj5H3goZT8f1A%3D%3D.htm
]
A 1 Atlantic Coastal Electric Inc,
Miami, FL 33125 
(305) 253-6425 

I did not get the person's name who
answered the phone, but it was one
of the electricians on hand.

I inquired about this particular 
situation and was told that if
the wire would be subject to 
environmental and/or physical
damage then metal conduit would
be the way to go.

Presuming the environment, I told
the electrician that the majority
of possible expected damage would
be from people, pets and furniture.

He stated that in this situation
Grey PVC would be adequate under
code. I asked further if white
PVC would be allowable and he stated
that it would NOT be acceptable per
code.

So, in summary... Grey PVC will be
fine for your wiring project. Be
sure to use code approved joints
and connectors as well.

If you expect more damage than
furniture would cause, it would
be prudent to use metal conduit.


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Search terms used:


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[ ://www.google.com/search?&q=%22florida+area%22+electrician+%2Djobs+%2Dcareers+%2Dvocation+%2Dvocational
]

"National electrical code" grey conduit
[ ://www.google.com/search?&q=%22National+electrical+code%22+grey+conduit ]

"National electrical code" exposed wiring
[ ://www.google.com/search?&q=%22National+electrical+code%22+exposed+wiring ]



thank you for your question,
-AI