Practical Electrical Wiring: Based on the 2002 National Electrical Code
- Book Review,
by Herbert P. Richter
From Book News, Inc.
For both professional electricians and do-it-yourselfers, this standard guide, in print for over 50 years, provides comprehensive, detailed instructions for making safe, efficient electrical wiring installations in virtually any home, farm, or small commercial or industrial setting. This edition (15th in 1990) has been revised and updated to reflect the requirements of the 1993 National Electrical Code. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Electrical Apparatus, 5/93
"Each revision of Practical Electrical Wiring aims to educate beginners in the field, yet stimulate those already engaged in electrical work. And, the 16th edition, which conforms to the 1993 NEC, is no different."
Book Description
FREDERIC P. HARTWELL builds on the strong foundation of H. P. Richter's classic, bringing Practical Electrical Wiring completely up-to-date with the 2002 National Electrical Code and the latest industry technology and wiring practices. The book has been fundamentally rewritten and reorganized to prepare readers to meet today's needs in all segments of the trade. For the practitioner and the student-practical guidance in a single volume. This compact all-in-one resource tells how to apply NEC rules in the most efficient manner in varied settings, with the regulations applying to a particular type of installation together in one place. Design pointers on how to make installations convenient and neat are another example of the "practical" aspect of the book. Job planning, techniques, and wiring calculations are explained in a detailed yet easy-to-understand style. Hartwell gives hints, cautions, and handy tricks used by veteran practitioners and offers rarely available information from an insider's perspective. For many topics you get not just today's rules, but a look back at how those rules came about over the years-useful in identifying and working on wiring systems of any age.
From the Publisher
In this completely new version of Practical Electrical Wiring, the entire text has been updated and reorganized by NEC expert Frederic P. Hartwell. He has added vast amounts of new material to meet the requirements of the increased specialization of the electrical trade over the last several years. Intended audience Practical Electrical Wiring is aimed at the person who wants to make a serious study of the field of electrical wiring—practitioners, students and apprentices, seekers of information about careers in the electrical industry, and general readers who want to learn the basics of the trade in order to do things right and become aware of what they don’t know so they can make a considered decision about how to proceed. Guide to using this book Practical Electrical Wiring covers all phases of a wiring installation—beginning with the necessary background theory and principles and on to the planning, installing, and finishing of residential, farm, commercial, and industrial jobs. Readers of previous editions will note a more advanced level of discussion reflecting the greater technical complexities of today. All new drawings and illustrations plus a new page design make instructions easier to follow and understand. To help you progress in your knowledge and skills, the book is divided into three parts—Wiring Principles; Residential and Farm Wiring; Commercial and Industrial Wiring. All three parts feature step-by-step instructions for quality work, with 475 drawings and photographs to enhance understanding. Part 1, WIRING PRINCIPLES, provides the basic foundation for the parts that follow—the safety, practical, and legal considerations involved in wiring decisions and practices. This is essential reading before undertaking any electrical work. The standards and codes that help ensure safety are explained. Selecting proper conductors and how to connect them is covered in detail, followed by how to safely ground the installation. Specific wiring methods and their latest NEC rules are detailed. The explanation of how electrical power is measured and delivered to users connects your installation to the broader picture and helps in understanding regional variations in electric rates. Chapters on planning residential installations, principles of good lighting, and an overview of residential and farm motors conclude Part 1. The principles and theory presented in Part 1 provide the background that can be applied to solving problems that may be encountered in unique situations. Part 2, RESIDENTIAL AND FARM WIRING, puts the principles established in Part 1 to work in the kind of wiring installations most commonly encountered in homes and on farms. Materials and step-by-step techniques are covered for every phase of the installation from installing and grounding service equipment, to roughing in a variety of outlets, and finishing with outlets, switches, and receptacles. Separate chapters cover specialized topics including limited-energy wiring, multi-circuits, old work, farms, on-site power generation, RVs and parks, and apartment buildings. Part 3, COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL WIRING, opens with Hartwell’s unique approach to understanding one of the primary responsibilities in the electrical trade—selecting the minimum allowable size of wire for a given load. This chapter is followed by discussions of how wiring methods, planning, and lighting differ for nonresidential installations compared with the residential and farm installations covered earlier in the book. The chapter on the wiring of motors in commercial and industrial applications (at not over 600 volts) builds on the motor basics provided in Part 1. The final chapter gives a preview of more advanced work in wiring specific installations that should be undertaken only by those who have had much experience with more ordinary installations detailed in Parts 1 and 2, or who have received expert training on installations similar to those in this chapter.
From the Author
Practical Electrical Wiring has achieved the status of a classic. Originally written by H.P. Richter, the book has an unparalleled ability to do two things at the same time. First, using everyday language, it makes the majority of electrical installation practices accessible to the beginner. Second, it includes enough detail to maintain its usefulness as an essential reference work on the shelf of any who continue in the trade. This edition follows seven prepared by W. Creighton Schwan, who ably continued Richter’s original work. Changes in the electrical trade prompted a decision to produce a fundamentally rewritten and reorganized work that more adequately reflects the challenges of a new century. We are rapidly approaching the point at which the majority of electric energy consumed in the U.S. is processed electronically, and therefore involves substantial harmonic components. Today’s apprentice needs some understanding of how these loads affect wiring decisions, or risks being left behind. Nevertheless, I have tried to keep the presentation accessible to all, for a personal reason. In 1957, at the age of ten, I helped my father extend a branch circuit in our home. My father, although handy, was never in the trade. Yet he correctly understood my intuitive fascination with what we were doing, and the next day I came home from school to a brand new copy of the fifth edition, just out, of Practical Electrical Wiring. I was riveted, and read the entire book cover to cover. It seemed as if I had been given the key to the inside door to a training room of a wonderful profession. I didn’t actually enter the trade until many years later, but I never got the book out of my mind. After college, I returned to my true calling, and I returned to this book as well, which was always an invaluable reference. It is now my great honor to carry on a wonderful tradition.
About the Author
The late Herbert P. Richter, long regarded as “the electrician’s electrician,” first published Practical Electrical Wiring in 1939. Frederic P. Hartwell is nationally recognized for his editorial and technical skills on NEC topics. He is the National Electrical Code specialist for EC Online and was formerly the senior editor and NEC expert with Electrical Construction and Maintenance Magazine. He has vast experience as an electrician, electrical inspector, and NEC and state electrical code panel member. Hartwell has been responsible for nearly one thousand successful proposals and public comments regarding changes in the National Electrical Code® over the past five Code-making cycles and continues as a principal member of the National Electrical Code Committee. He brings years of experience and practical hints gained as a licensed master electrician and former head electrician at a college in Massachusetts.
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