Chapter 3
Table [Link] Minimum Cover Requirements, 0 to 600 Volts, Nominal, Burial in Millimeters
Type of Wiring Method or Circuit
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5
Direct Burial Rigid Metal Nonmetallic Residential Circuits for
Cables or Conduit or Raceways Listed Branch Control of
Conductors Intermediate for Direct Burial Circuits Rated Irrigation and
(mm) Metal Without Concrete 120 Landscape
Conduit Encasement or Volts or Less Lighting Limited
(mm) Other Approved with to
Location of Wiring Raceways GFCI Protection Not More Than
Method or (mm) and Maximum 30
Circuit Overcurrent Volts and
Protection of 20 Installed
Amperes with Type UF or
(mm) in
Other Identified
Cable or
Raceway
(mm)
All locations not 600 150 450 300 150
specified below
In trench below 50 mm 450 150 300 150 150
thick
concrete or equivalent
Under a building 0 0 0 0 0
(in raceway (in raceway (in raceway only)
only) only)
Under minimum of 100 450 100 100 150 150
mm (direct burial)
thick concrete exterior
slab
with no vehicular traffic 100
and (in raceway)
the slab extending not
less than
150 mm beyond the
underground
installation
Under streets, 600 600 600 600 600
highways, roads,
alleys, driveways, and
parking
lots
Hershey B. Samonte
One- and two-family 450 450 450 300 450
dwelling
driveways and outdoor
parking
areas, and used only for
dwelling-related
purposes
In or under airport 450 450 450 450 450
runways,
including adjacent
areas where
trespassing prohibited
Table [Link](a) Spacings for Conductor Supports
Conductors
Aluminum or Copper
Size of Wire Support of Conductors Copper-Clad (m)
mm2 (mm dia.) in Vertical Raceways Aluminum
(m)
0.75(1.0) through 8.0(3.2) Not greater than 30 30
14 through 50 Not greater than 60 30
60 through 100 Not greater than 55 25
Over 100 through 175 Not greater than 40 18
Over 175 through 250 Not greater than 35 15
Over 250 through 400 Not greater than 30 12
Over 400 Not greater than 25 11
Table [Link] Minimum Cover1 Requirements
General Conditions (not otherwise specified) Special Conditions (use if applicable)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Direct-Buried Rigid Rigid Metal Raceways Cables in Areas subject
Cables Nonmetallic Conduit and under airport to vehicular
(mm) Conduit2 Intermediate buildings or runways or traffic, such
Circuit (mm) Metal exterior adjacent as
Voltage Conduit concrete areas where thoroughfares
(mm) slabs, trespass is and
100mm prohibited commercial
minimum (mm) parking areas
thickness3 (mm)
(mm)
Over 600 V 760 460 150 100 450 600
through
22 kV
Over 22 kV 900 600 150 100 450 600
through
40 kV
Hershey B. Samonte
Over 40 kV 1000 760 150 100 450 600
Table [Link] Minimum Size of Conductors
Minimum Conductor Size
Conductor mm2 (mm dia.)
Voltage Rating Copper Aluminum or
(Volts) Copper-Clad
Aluminum
0–2000 2.0(1.6) 3.5(2.0)
2001–8000 8.0(3.2) 8.0(3.2)
8001–15,000 30 30
15,001–28,000 38 38
28,001–35,000 50 50
Table [Link](b) (2) (a) Adjustment Factors for More Than Three
Current-Carrying Conductors in a Raceway or Cable
Number of Percent of Values in Tables
Current-Carrying [Link] through [Link] as
Conductors Adjusted for Ambient
Temperature if Necessary
4–6 80
7–9 70
10–20 50
21–30 45
31–40 40
41 and above 35
Table [Link](b) Volume Allowance Required per Conductor
Size of Conductor Free Space Within Box for
mm2 (mm dia.) Each Conductor
cm3
0.75(1.0) 24
1.25(1.2) 28
2.0(1.6) 32
3.5(2.0) 36
5.5(2.6) 40
8.0(3.2) 50
14 82
Hershey B. Samonte
Table [Link] Minimum Radii of Bends
Raceway Size (mm) Minimum Radii
mm
50 600
80 900
100 1150
Table [Link] Paper Spacer Thickness
Size (mm2) Thickness
mm
125 – 500 1.02
600 – 2375 1.52
Table [Link] Conduit Dimensions
Conduit Raceway Actual Outside Actual Inside
Size (mm) Diameter Diameter
Mm mm
50 60 49.46
80 89 73.30
100 114 94.23
Table [Link](b) (2) Supports for Rigid Metal Conduit
Conduit Size Maximum Distance Between
(mm) Rigid Metal Conduit Supports
(mm)
15–20 3 000
25 3 600
32–40 4 200
50–65 4 800
80 and larger 6 000
Table [Link](b) Support of Rigid Nonmetallic Conduit (RNC)
Conduit Raceway Size Maximum Spacing Between
(mm) Supports
(mm)
15–25 900
32–50 1 500
65–80 1 800
90–125 2 100
150 2 400
Hershey B. Samonte
Table [Link] Minimum Bending Radius for Nonmetallic
Underground Conduit with Conductors (NUCC)
Raceway Size Minimum Bending Radius
(mm) (mm)
15 250
20 300
25 350
32 450
40 500
50 650
65 900
80 1200
100 1500
Table [Link](a) Minimum Radii for Flexing Use
Raceway Size Minimum Radii for Flexing Use
(mm)
10 mm 250
15 mm 310
20 mm 440
Table [Link](b) Minimum Radii for Fixed Bends
Raceway Size Minimum Radii for Fixed Bends
(mm)
10 mm 90
15 mm 100
20 mm 125
Table [Link](b) Metal Area Requirements for Cable
Trays Used as Equipment Grounding Conductor
Maximum Fuse Ampere Minimum Cross-Sectional
Rating, Area of Metala
Circuit Breaker Ampere Trip Steel Cable Aluminum
Setting, or Circuit Breaker Trays Cable
Protective Relay Ampere 2
mm Trays
Trip mm2
Setting for Ground-Fault
Protection of Any Cable
Circuit
in the Cable Tray System
60 129 129
100 258 129
Hershey B. Samonte
200 451.5 129
400 645 258
600 967.5 258
1000 — 387
1200 — 645
1600 — 967.5
2000 — 1290
Table [Link](e) Allowable Cable Fill Area for Multiconductor
Cables in Ventilated Channel Cable Trays for Cables Rated 2000
Volts or Less
Inside Width of Maximum Allowable Fill Area for
Cable Tray Multiconductor Cables
mm Column 1 Column 2
One Cable More Than One
mm2 Cable
mm2
75 1 500 850
100 2 900 1 600
150 4 500 2 450
Table [Link](f) Allowable Cable Fill Area for Multiconductor
Cables in Solid Channel Cable Trays for Cables Rated 2000 Volts
Or Less
Inside Width of Column 1 Column 2
Cable Tray One Cable More Than One
mm mm2 Cable
mm2
50 850 500
75 1 300 700
100 2 400 1 400
150 3 600 2 100
Hershey B. Samonte