We're thinking of having some additional finishing work done on our basement, and had the electrician in this a.m. to do some planning and estimating. One of the new lighting circuits will light a new hallway between the basement outside entrace, down a wide hallway to a separate room. The electrician commented that we would need to run a new circuit to connect a three-way switch at the far end of the hallway, and I replied that we could just install a "slave" Insteon switch (my current technology, but some other automation flavors should work) at that end of the hall, wire it into the circuit of the switch already there for the room, and be done with it -- no need for a physical connection.
He said, "Nope, sorry. The NEC (National Electric Code) doesn't "recognize smart homes". I initially thought he was trying to say that the equipment doesn't meet UL ratings (his original statement) but when I noted that it absolutely did meet EITHER UL or ETL ratings, he said, "No, the equipment is OK, but the code REQUIRES that you have a hard-wired, physical connection betwen the two switches, on the same circuit". In other words, a plain old three-way switch.
I'm not so sure that's right... Can any of our fine electrician board members comment? I certainly understand the need for this prior to automation, but it just seems like a needless rule if the technologies many of us on this board use can be utilized. And I don't want to pay to run that extra wiring!
Thanks,
Joe
He said, "Nope, sorry. The NEC (National Electric Code) doesn't "recognize smart homes". I initially thought he was trying to say that the equipment doesn't meet UL ratings (his original statement) but when I noted that it absolutely did meet EITHER UL or ETL ratings, he said, "No, the equipment is OK, but the code REQUIRES that you have a hard-wired, physical connection betwen the two switches, on the same circuit". In other words, a plain old three-way switch.
I'm not so sure that's right... Can any of our fine electrician board members comment? I certainly understand the need for this prior to automation, but it just seems like a needless rule if the technologies many of us on this board use can be utilized. And I don't want to pay to run that extra wiring!
Thanks,
Joe