Electrical Wiring

Electrical wiring in general refers to insulated conductors used to carry electricity, and associated devices.

Wiring safety codes

The intention of wiring safety codes is to protect people and buildings from electrical shock and fire hazards. Regulations may be set by local city, provincial/state or national legislation, perhaps by amendments to a model code produced by a technical standards-setting organization, or by a national standard electrical code.

Electrical codes arose in the 1880s with the early commercial introduction of electrical power. Many conflicting standards existed for the selection of wire sizes and other design rules for electrical installations.

The first electrical codes in the United States originated in New York in 1881 to regulate installations of electric lighting. Since 1897 the U.S. National Fire Protection Association, a private nonprofit association formed by insurance companies, publishes the National Electrical Code (NEC). States, counties or cities often include the NEC in their local building codes by reference along with local differences. The NEC is modified every three years. It is a consensus code considering suggestions from interested parties. The proposals are studied by Committees of engineers, tradesmen, manufacturer representatives, fire fighters, and other invitees.

Since 1927, the Canadian Standards Association has produced the Canadian Safety Standard for Electrical Instalations, which is the basis for provincial electrical codes.

Although these two national standards deal with the same physical phenomena and broadly similar objectives, they differ occasionally in technical detail. As part of the NAFTA program, US and Canadian standards are slowly converging towards each other, in a process known as harmonization.

In European countries, an attempt has been made to harmonize national wiring standards in an IEC standard, IEC 60364 Electrical Installations for Buildings. However, this standard is not written in such language that it can readily be adapted as a national wiring code. Neither is it designed for field use by electrical tradesmen and inspectors for acceptance of compliance to national wiring standards. National codes, such as the NEC or CSA C22.2, exemplify the common objectives of IEC 60364, and provide rules in a form that allows for guidance of persons installing and inspecting electrical systems.

The 2006 edition of the Canadian electrical code references IEC 60364 and states that the code addresses the fundamental principles of electrical protection in Section 131. The Canadian code reprints Chapter 13 of IEC 60364 and it is interesting to note that there are no numerical criteria listed in that chapter whereby the adequacy of any electrical installation can be assessed.

DKE - German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies of DIN and VDE - is the German organisation responsible for the elaboration of electrical standards and safety specifications.

In the United Kingdom wiring installations are regulated by the produced by the IET Requirements for Electrical Installations: IET Wiring Regulations, BS 7671: 2001 which is now in its 16th edition. The first edition was published in 1882.

AS/NZS 3000 is an Australian/New Zealand standard, commonly known as the "wiring rules", that specifies the requirements for the selection and installation of electrical equipment and the design and testing of such installations. The standard is a mandatory standard in both New Zealand and Australia; therefore, all electrical work covered by the standard must comply.