can a floor junction box have a file cabinet over it

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muskiedog

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
I have a cubicle space in an office environment. A questions was raised if a file cabinet can be placed over the floor junction box. It would be blocked up so it would not rest directly on the cover. Cables and wiring to the cubicles comes out of the top.

Thanks
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
IMO there is no NEC section that prevents blocking any kind of outlet, junction box or pull point with furniture.

Somedays I wish there was. :smile:
 
Can you put a desk in front of a receptacle?


To me it is the same thing, you can do both. :smile:

I think that a receptacle should ALWAYS be accessible just like a circuit brekare panelboard needs to be. I disagree with the practices that locks up electrical rooms. A receptacle serves as a means of disconnect for individual electrical equipment and in the case of fire or electrocution it is imperative that they should be immediately accessible.

A junction box does not require continuous or immediate access.
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
A receptacle serves as a means of disconnect for individual electrical equipment and in the case of fire or electrocution it is imperative that they should be immediately accessible.
That is not a bad notion, but the NEC does not require it. A similar notion that some of us (not including myself) hold to is that a motor's required local disconnect should not be locked in the closed position, just in case it needs to be opened in an emergency. My view is that the function of a disconnecting means is not to allow the item to be turned off in an emergency. There would be some value in having that ability, but it is not an NEC requirement. The disconnecting means is there to allow the item to be maintained or repaired safely.
 

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
OKAY. So here's some more of my infamous northcountry logic: A receptacle is a device and a device is equipment (see definitions of both). Therefore Accessible (as applied to equipment) is the definition that controls in this case. So is a receptacle located under a - moveable with varying degrees of difficulty- file cabinet considered to be "admitting close approach"? "Not guarded by locked doors (not file drawers:D)"?..etc.?
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Therefore Accessible (as applied to equipment) is the definition that controls in this case.
A defintion never, never "controls." It only explains. Where is the rule that says that any equipment, device, or receptacle must be accessible? If there is a rule that applies to a specific item, then we do whatever that rule says. I don't know of a rule that says a receptacle must be "accessible."
 

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
A defintion never, never "controls." It only explains. Where is the rule that says that any equipment, device, or receptacle must be accessible? If there is a rule that applies to a specific item, then we do whatever that rule says. I don't know of a rule that says a receptacle must be "accessible."

How about 314.29 requiring the box that the receptacle is mounted in to be accessible and then using the equipment/device meaning for accessible? :smile: Is this too circuitous a route?
 

eprice

Senior Member
Location
Utah
314.29 does not require that the box be accessible, only that it "can be rendered accessible without removing any part of the building". I don't believe the file cabinet is part of the building. The file cabinet can be moved and the box will have been rendered accessible without removing part of the building.
 

steelersman

Senior Member
Location
Lake Ridge, VA
314.29 does not require that the box be accessible, only that it "can be rendered accessible without removing any part of the building". I don't believe the file cabinet is part of the building. The file cabinet can be moved and the box will have been rendered accessible without removing part of the building.
exactly! This is a no brainer.
 
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