National Electrical Code

The designated National Electrical Code ( NEC), also known as NFPA 70, is a common in the United States of America safety standard for electrical installations. The standard is recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is known as ANSI / NFPA 70 of the standards and rules of conduct which are published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

General

The standard specifies the form in which electrical installations and their parameters such as operating voltage, the type of cable laying in the low voltage range for electrical power supply, electrical fuses or the spread in North America NEMA plugs are designed to. It is divided into nine chapters and several appendices. The NEC was first published in 1897 and is updated annually. In many U.S. states, the standard is slightly revised to be adapted to local needs.

Under Chapter 500, the explosion protection regulations are contained in the USA. Under Chapter 505, the international explosion protection requirements IEC / EN 60079 have been added in recent years.

The default is in the broadest published in Germany by the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE ) standards series DIN VDE 0100 comparable. In contrast to DIN VDE standards in the USA is the legal obligation that safety standards as well as the NEC must be available free and must not be subject to copyright restrictions.