On September 15, 2009 at 18:52, Ernie Bornn-Gilman said...
I drill half inch holes for four-conductor speaker wire. If the wire were burning, there'd be too little air flow throught that 1/2" hole for the burning to go to the next stud bay. The small diameter hole would actually prevent the wire from burning. My guess is that it might go through a one inch hole with one wire in it, and I don't have the time to drill 1" holes when I'm running one wire.
a 16/4 cable is about 1/4" in diameter. if it passes through a 1/2" hole, is there not plenty of space for air? if i drill a 1" hole and fill it up with cable, will that pass inspection? i've read that when drilling through a fire break, a contractor needs to fill in the hole with fire rated caulk. i've looked at plenty of prewires, some during construction, and many during retrofit, and i've never seen a cable hole in a firebreak filled in with caulk. seems to me, any airspace at all would allow cable insulation to burn through to the next stud space.
