Steel City 52151 1/2 Outlet Boxes

It's a square 4 x 4 x 1-1/2 inch steel box with 21 cubic inches of volume. That capacity is what decides your conductor fill count, so it's the number to work from when you're counting wires, devices and clamps against box fill rules.

The Steel City 52151 1/2 is a steel 4 x 4 x 1-1/2 inch square outlet box rated for dry interior wall and ceiling mounting, and it is not a weatherproof box. For an exposed exterior location, the Mulberry Royal Mountie weatherproof outlet box is a die-cast aluminum 1-gang box built for that duty, and the Thomas & Betts 2IH3-1 Red-Dot is a 2-gang conduit outlet box with three 1/2 inch hubs for threaded conduit runs on the outside of a building.

No. The Steel City 52151 1/2 is a standard steel square outlet box for wall and ceiling mounting in ordinary locations. For a classified area you need an explosionproof enclosure such as the Appleton GRJ series explosionproof conduit outlet box in malleable iron, the Appleton GRJS universal explosionproof box, or the Appleton GRT75 malleable iron round conduit outlet box.

It mounts to a wall or ceiling surface or structure, and carries 16 knockouts, which gives you plenty of choice on where conduit or cable connectors enter without reorienting the box in the bay.

With 21 cubic inches you have working room for a single device plus conductors, but a 1-1/2 inch deep 4-square is the shallow end of the range. If you're splicing several circuits or stacking two devices, step up to a 2-1/8 inch deep 4-square (about 30 cubic inches) instead of forcing fill into this one.

The 52151 1/2 is drawn steel, finished silver. Being metallic, the box itself is part of the equipment grounding path when fed with metal conduit or armored cable, which is why it's specified on commercial jobs instead of a PVC box like the Cantex EZ Series residential outlet box.

Order it as Steel City 52151 1/2. That's the manufacturer part number for the 4 x 4 x 1-1/2 inch square steel outlet box, single outlet.

Not for that job. A 21 cubic inch 4-square with a single outlet isn't sized for the large-conductor terminations a range or dryer circuit needs. Use a purpose-built unit like the Pass & Seymour P242RRD range and dryer box instead.

The Steel City 52151 1/2 is a single-outlet square steel box, 4 by 4 by 1-1/2 inches, with 16 knockouts that you punch out as needed for your connectors. The Thomas and Betts 2IH3-1 Red-Dot is a 2-gang conduit outlet box supplied with three 1/2 inch threaded hubs already formed, and it ships in packs of 100.