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I had a heat pump installed on the side of my house and a line (both air and electrical) run straight up the side to a head unit in the finished attic. The contractor ran out of electrical cable from the heat pump to the head unit and spliced in more cable. This is in a plastic enclosure running up the side of the house as you can see in the pictures attached. While the enclosure is capped at the top and otherwise seems to seal well (I pulled in open to get the pictures), I am concerned about this as it is external and it rains here - a lot.

Secondly, the Romex from the outside heat pump to the electrical box was run through my basement. Holes were drilled in the rafters to run it, except for where my gas furnace is. The contractor draped the Romex over a metal gas line and then just laid the Romex on top of the furnace. This is the metal ducting right on top of the furnace at the hottest part of the system.

I believe the outside spice is a 120v control line using 14/4 cable (ground, neutral, signal and hot). The Romex on this inside is draped right on top of the ducting that comes straight up out of the furnace unit. Lastly, there is a disconnect box outside next to the compressor unit.

I am not an electrician and know little about NEC code. Some of this seems just very dangerous to me and was hoping if anyone has some insight into this being code compliant or not.

Outside cable splice

Romex on top of furnace duct

Enclosure splice is in - closed

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  • The draped romex is rated to 90° Celsius. Is your unit hotter than that?
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Oct 28 at 4:16
  • Where's the 12g romex located?
    – Huesmann
    Commented Oct 28 at 13:32

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Non-metallic sheathed cable (NMB, "Romex") is never permitted to be installed "where subject to damage". In many places, that is interpreted to mean ANYWHERE outside interior framing cavities. NMB has a specific support/securing schedule, using approved methods, it can't just be allowed to flop around. In addition, NMB is never allowed to be installed in any "wet" location, which outdoors or the interior of any outdoor conduit is considered to be. Splices must occur inside an approved junction box or other device, with suitable clamps/strain relief. The installation you picture was quite likely done without required permit and would of course fail any meaningful inspection such permits demand.

Contact with any part of furnace ducting, except some kinds of combustion exhaust ducting, will not damage any modern sort of NMB, nor will contact with any sort of plumbing or gas piping.

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Assuming this was a licensed contractor, it's likely a permit from your local authority needed to be pulled for this work. If that's the case, ask these questions to the inspector when they come to inspect the work and sign off on the completion of the permit. If a permit should have been pulled, and wasn't, follow up with the contractor to get the work permitted/approved.

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  • From my novice (non-electrician training), I'd say at a minimum that external splice is a non-starter, as anything outdoors would be considered "wet location", and that certainly doesn't look suitable for a junction in a wet location. Also, I'm not aware of a scenario where splices can be made inside a conduit type of wiring path like they did, and especially outside of a junction box.
    – Milwrdfan
    Commented Oct 28 at 14:58
  • Depends if it's low voltage.
    – Huesmann
    Commented Oct 29 at 13:54
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    Considering the size of the conductors, the large wire nuts used, and that I'm not seeing any other (low voltage) control lines going to this minisplit, my money is on these are line voltage connections.
    – Milwrdfan
    Commented Oct 29 at 16:58
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The wires in the conduit outside may be low voltage, or can carry 120 volts, maybe more depending on the unit. They send signals from the wall unit to the outside compressor. This could be an issue. It will need to be checked as to what voltage is carried by those wires.

The romex doesn't violate a code that I can think of (I am not an electrician.)

There is the question of how it enters the breaker box and exits the building. I believe there should be a disconnect and a 120V outlet close to the outdoor unit. You did not mention if those were present.

Generally the work looks a bit sloppy, but more info is needed to determine if any codes were violated. (Electricians please chime in.)

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    "The wires in the conduit outside are low voltage" -- That's not generally true on mini-splits, where the indoor head is powered from the outside compressor instead of having its own power supply
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Commented Oct 28 at 11:44
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    @ThreePhaseEel, Thanks for the "heads up" Mine are 28 volts, I believe, but others may be different. I edited my answer.
    – RMDman
    Commented Oct 28 at 12:04
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    One forgets that other makes/models might be different. Daikin is the only brand I've installed; they run the full 240 volts (line/line/ground) from the outdoor to the indoor head. I wouldn't have guessed there are any that are low voltage so I'm glad you shared that info!
    – Greg Hill
    Commented Oct 28 at 17:25
  • It is 120v running on 14/4 cable from the compressor to the head unit.
    – B.A.
    Commented Oct 28 at 17:31
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    @B.A. That splice must be in a box.
    – RMDman
    Commented Oct 28 at 17:36
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Most heat pumps I've seen have two wiring connections; one is 240vac power for the compressor and is typically heavy gauge romex though the wall to an exterior disconnect box and then in a sealed "whip" or conduit to the compressor unit. Second is low voltage wires from the thermostat and air handler to turn it on and off. These are typically 24vac and as such don't need junction boxes for splicing, but it would be bad practice to leave any such splices exposed.

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    That would be true in a conventional system, but this is a mini-split. Here, it's line, neutral, ground, and a control wire. Top left panel of page 2.
    – user71659
    Commented Oct 29 at 6:51

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