What a crock. In TX we have the "benefit" of being able to choose who bills us for electricity. I chose a "100% renewable" energy provider, for ya know, the planet and whatever. Then I read the fine print. Texas considers natural gas a renewable resource.
Aha, I found the loophole. Natural gas produced by landfill decomposition is renewable, as we will never stop throwing stuff away :) Someone in the state legislature skipped class on the day they did venn diagrams and concluded that if some natural gas is renewable, it all must be.
@SteveJackson there are stipulations. "Switch, outlet, and tap devices of insulating material shall be permitted to be used without boxes in exposed cable wiring and for rewiring in existing buildings where the cable is concealed and fished."
From this it sound like the taps can only be used if the wire is spliced, and then fished through the wall (but I could be wrong).
So in theory, I would be able to pull the cable back out of the wall to work on the splice.
Yeah maybe, since they mentioned fished. It makes sense that way to me, if you're going to install and secure the wire you should have enough room to install a box. However if you're working in a finished area it's desirable to have a way to splice existing wiring without ripping the wall down.
I do agree with you though, I would expect an electrician to do it the "normal" way.
@SteveJackson This answer just makes me nervous, because we have so many wannabe electricians. I would hate to see people using these things all over the place.
@Tester101 I think the answer is accurate, but if it was my answer and you wanted to paste in the section from the NEC with the stipulations, I would be perfectly fine with that.
I would think the NEC would err heavily on the side of safety over convenience :) They exist, they're approved, it answers the question.
Tyco makes NM splices which are concealable and acceptable under NEC for use for rewiring in an existing building.
NM Cable Splices
