National Electrical Code Articles and Information

Code Quiz: Article 400

Based on the 2014 NEC

Questions and answers written by Mark Lamendola, who has worked as a master electrician, electrical inspector, and design engineer. Mark is an IEEE Senior Member, and the Code article author for Codebookcity.com. Since 1996, he has been writing National Electrical Code articles for electrical trade magazines and has an extensive portfolio of hundreds of NEC articles.

Article 400 is the first Article in Chapter 4. But unlike some other 00 Articles, it doesn't lay out its Chapter (4) or serve as an introduction to it. Future revisions of the NEC may start numbering Articles at 1, which is where we actually start numbering things when we count them. The 00 designation would be an explanatory Article for that Chapter. No doubt, this is a long way off. In the meantime, we have this taxonomical error and we just have to live with it.

Another option in the numbering scheme would be to follow our numbering/counting system. We count from 1 to 10, not 0 to 9. That's why, for example, the millennium started in 2001 and not in 2000. Count your toes, and you don't stop at 9 unless you're missing one. You stop at 10. So using this system, the last Article in Chapter 3 should be Article 400. But keeping all 3s in Chapter 3 and all 4s in Chapter 4 seems less confusing, perhaps.

1. As stated above, Article 400 does not introduce Chapter 400. So what is it about?

2. What's the universal (applies to all types) limitation on the use of flexible cords and cables?
    

3. Can you use a Hard Service Cord to supply a range or dryer?
    

4. If a portable power cord has the designation PPE on its jacket, what voltage is it rated for and what size is each current-carrying conductor?
    

5. Which type of cord has the most entries in Table 400.4?

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