Electrical – Are “terminal block” style junction boxes allowed in the US

code-complianceelectricaljunction-boxukusa

In the UK it seems pretty common to see junction boxes with built-in screw terminals that are used only for splicing wires from 2 or more cables together.

Typical example:

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Sample wiring diagram:

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[These particular links are just examples.]

Are these acceptable for use in the US? (assuming "typical" building codes which I know vary locally).

Given that the jbox is installed in an accessible location and used as per its specifications as to volts/amps, I'm not sure what other factors might determine if these could / could not be used?

Although standard US jboxes are versatile, an advantage of these UK style boxes is that they are quite compact and they assist in making what seem to be very secure connections. Also the round cover is cleverly designed to leave open only as many side 'ports' as there are cables entering; so no holes have to be punched nor covered. Its basically an all-in-one type product for the common splicing situations.

So I've always been surprised that (essentially) the same thing doesn't seem to be available here. They seem DIY-friendly in particular.

(That said, when I lived in the UK I recall many of these were cheap brittle plastic and had to be installed carefully to avoid breakage.)

Best Answer

I'm pretty darn sure the answer is "no"

Non-metallic boxes, as well as oddly shaped/sized metal boxes, in the US are required to be permanently marked (labeled) with their "official" volume in cubic inches so that the correct box fill calculations can be run for them. This is Codified in NEC 314.16(A)(2):

(2) Other Boxes. Boxes 1650 cm³ (100 in.³) or less, other than those described in Table 314.16(A), and nonmetallic boxes shall be durably and legibly marked by the manufacturer with their volume(s). Boxes described in Table 314.16(A) that have a volume larger than is designated in the table shall be permitted to have their volume marked as required by this section.

I seriously doubt that IEC-style splicing boxes would carry such a volume marking, rendering them unusable in the US then and there. Furthermore, the size of that box is similar to a North American pancake box, which lacks the volume needed for tapping even a 14AWG NM cable, by Code. (At most, you can splice two 14/2 cables together in a pancake box, or use that style of box in its normal habitat, namely hosting a dead-end light fixture.)

As a result of this, I seriously doubt these are at all usable in the US, and that's before you get to the fact that the one you've linked is likely cheap Cheese-pipeline garbage that's not even suitable for use in a UK installation.