Joe Gwinn
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
- Location
- Boston, MA area
I was watching an interesting youtube video of building one's own house (somewhere in the vast Russian plains of Asia), and was struck by the part on wiring the house. No wirenuts or crimps. They just stripped and twisted together a bunch of solid copper wires, used a heavy copper-jawed ground clamp next to the insulation, and touched the ends of the copper wire bundle with a carbon-rod that connects to the ground clamp through a medium-size 12-volt car battery. I assume that the carbon rod is the negative. The arc quickly melts the wires into a common ball of copper. No flux used. When it all cools, a heavy plastic tube is heat-shrunk down onto the joint.
It's in Russian (which I don't know), but the pictures are clear enough. This (ELECTRICIAN in the house without rules, do it yourself? HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE? #15) is from the My Galaxy youtube channel. The companion (mostly in English) channel is Creative Galaxy. The welding is around 13 minutes into the following:
Как легко сделать ЭЛЕКТРИКУ в ДОМЕ Своими руками? КАК построить ДЕШЕВЫЙ Дом? ►15 - YouTube
And the following (ELECTRICAL WIRING without Rules. Do it yourself. HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE? # 17), where we see that it uses a welding transformer of some kind, not a battery, at 11:37:00 in:
ЭЛЕКТРОПРОВОДКА Своими Руками | КАК построить ДЕШЕВЫЙ Дом? ►17 - YouTube
Now, in the US I think that soft (tin-lead) soldering is still an acceptable (albeit rare) way to join copper wires, but I never heard of welding, or brazing for that matter. So, I'm curious.
They do seem to be making connections that are buried in the walls, and not in an accessible box, which I assume is forbidden in the US (even if OK in Russia), even if one welds all the connections.
My question is what chapter and verse in the NEC would all this come under, and what does it say?
It's in Russian (which I don't know), but the pictures are clear enough. This (ELECTRICIAN in the house without rules, do it yourself? HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE? #15) is from the My Galaxy youtube channel. The companion (mostly in English) channel is Creative Galaxy. The welding is around 13 minutes into the following:
Как легко сделать ЭЛЕКТРИКУ в ДОМЕ Своими руками? КАК построить ДЕШЕВЫЙ Дом? ►15 - YouTube
And the following (ELECTRICAL WIRING without Rules. Do it yourself. HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE? # 17), where we see that it uses a welding transformer of some kind, not a battery, at 11:37:00 in:
ЭЛЕКТРОПРОВОДКА Своими Руками | КАК построить ДЕШЕВЫЙ Дом? ►17 - YouTube
Now, in the US I think that soft (tin-lead) soldering is still an acceptable (albeit rare) way to join copper wires, but I never heard of welding, or brazing for that matter. So, I'm curious.
They do seem to be making connections that are buried in the walls, and not in an accessible box, which I assume is forbidden in the US (even if OK in Russia), even if one welds all the connections.
My question is what chapter and verse in the NEC would all this come under, and what does it say?