AMERICAN
ELECTRICIANS
HANDBOOK
Terrell Croft (Deceased)
Frederic P. Hartwell
Wilford I. Summers
Sixteenth Edition
New York Chicago San Francisco Athens London
Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi
Singapore Sydney Toronto
Copyright 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-07-179881-5
MHID: 0-07-179881-1
e-Book conversion by Cenveo Publisher Services
Version 1.0
The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-179880-8, MHID: 0-07-179880-3.
McGraw-Hill Education eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative, please visit the Contact Us page at www.mhprofessional.com.
All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.
Information has been obtained by McGraw-Hill Education from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, McGraw-Hill Education, or others, McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.
TERMS OF USE
This is a copyrighted work and McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill Educations prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms.
THE WORK IS PROVIDED AS IS. McGRAW-HILL EDUCATION AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill Education nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill Education has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill Education and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise.
CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE SIXTEENTH EDITION
As befitting a book in its 100th year of publication, the American Electricians Handbook has always been my intellectual attic as an electrician. If I really need some information, no matter how off the beaten path, I have always been able to find the information in this book. This Sixteenth Edition has been entirely and carefully revised and expanded consistent with advances of the art and the latest good practice, and in accord with the latest requirements of the 2011 National Electrical Code. The returning reader will find extensive new material, including tables, illustrations, and photographs. To make room, some of the verbatim reprints of NEC tables and sections have been discontinued. This editor believes that any user of this book has ready access to a current copy of the NEC, but not so the added material. The remaining references have been carefully correlated with that edition of the NEC.
This edition provides extensive coverage on fine-stranded conductors, with examples of suitable equipment to use with these wires along with how to apply termination rules that can be very challenging. It also includes updated material on net present value calculations, so you can evaluate and sell the benefits of electrical improvements today. It continues coverage on ampacity calculations that are some of the most challenging for engineers and working electricians alike, and it correlates that coverage with NEC Example D3(a) and Annex B.310.15.(B)(2)(11) so the user can observe how the coverage directly corresponds to the only NEC example that tackles this subject, as well as comfortably apply the NEC material that allows access to the more generous ampacity adjustment factors that had been in the NEC for about 40 years in the second half of the previous century.