wall requirment

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I am installing a 1600A MCC 480V service and the room will be built out of wood studs. looking at 110.26(A)(1) condition 1 says that the wall has to be effectively gaurded by insulating materials. Does that mean inslation between studs? What does the sheeting have to be? The room is located in the middle of our production plant.
 

infinity

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The sheetrock wall would be considered effectively insulated. The requirement means that the wall is insulated electrically.
 

charlie b

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Looking at 110.26(A)(1) condition 1 says that the wall has to be effectively gaurded by insulating materials.
It does not say that. What it says is that if the space opposite the live parts is, in fact, a wall, and if that wall is not "grounded," then you can call that layout a "Condition 1" situation, thus reducing the minimum working clearance to 3 feet. You can also call it a "Condition 1" if there were live parts sitting opposite one another, if both are effectively insulated, but you only have one service MCC, so that part does not apply to your situation.


By the way, if you want to know whether a wall has been "grounded," the text of "Condition 2" explains that term. I would say that a sheetrock wall is "grounded," in this context, so you would not have a "Condition 1" installation. You will be in "Condition 2," and you will need 42 inches of working space.
 

infinity

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Charlie,

Why would you consider sheetrock to be grounded when the note to condition 2 makes no mention of wallboard?
 

charlie b

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I strongly suspect (but have no intention of finding out for certain ;)) that if a person were to have on rubber boots and were standing on a rubber mat, and if one hand were on the sheetrock wall and the other hand touched a live part, there would be current flowing through the person, into planet Earth, and back to the source via the ground rod, and I think the sheetrock wall would sucessfully act as a portion of that current path. The items listed under Condition 2 are not intended to be an all-inclusive set.
 
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