Expensive mistake

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I dont mean to laugh at some guys, and I'm sure we all make some silly mistakes. There was a this crew that put a panel in upside down to help save on the wire to ben. Well, the panel being upside down made the 'breaker' upside down, so the on/off is reversed and the Electrical inspector rejected the job.

There was a shut down for the first project, so now there is another shutdown for the second project to correct the panel. Its gonna take about a good 10 hrs to do it is what they plan. Moving the all the conduits attached to the panel, and refeeding the panel and having the guys come out at night to do it, I think it is an expensive mistake for just the breaker b eing upside down. ;)
 

Dennis Alwon

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Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Wow the residential panels I use have the on / off going left / right. Not an issue when you turn it over.

I did it one time but I still have trouble with the looks of an upside down panel.

For me, it isn't the wire saved so much as the space saved when you come in the bottom and the main is on the top.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I have seen this done in stores, but the main was oriented left/right.

The layout was for two panels, one right side up and the other upside down, above it. It made for a cleaner installation and saved a lot of pipe and wire.

The inspector said although not common, he has seen it done and there is nothing in the NEC to prohibit it.
 

e57

Senior Member
It may be an easier correction than you think - if they think about the panel enclosure and the guts of it as two seperate items - many are easilly reversable in mounting inside - conductor length - different story... But rest assured they'll never do that again - lesson learned.
 

e57

Senior Member
True most can. I turned down a job because of this very thing. EC was able to turn main over. The irony of this is by having it upside down the Main was at the top.
SqD I think has some like that - Main is on the bottom - I saw one and thought that would be a big screw up if you didn't check before mounting it... Most main CB's would be on top - traditionally....
 

izak

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MO
yeah how come everyone says six foot six inches???

i have had bosses and foremen with nearly 20 years in the trade argue me down on that point when ive said six foot seven.
 

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
It's six foot seven inches to make it 2 meters.

39.37 (meters) x 2 = 78.74"

SI? See 90.9

Big brother stuff...
 
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hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
SqD I think has some like that - Main is on the bottom - I saw one and thought that would be a big screw up if you didn't check before mounting it... Most main CB's would be on top - traditionally....

I used a bunch of SQ D panels at the marinas I wired, and I always ordered them with bottom feed mains. Panels were about 42" wide x 68+" high.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
yeah how come everyone says six foot six inches???

i have had bosses and foremen with nearly 20 years in the trade argue me down on that point when ive said six foot seven.

Requirement used to be six foot six inches. I can't remember which code it was but it changed to six foot seven inches to make it also an even 2 meters.

I am pretty sure it was either 1999 or 2002 code when it changed.

Same code also had a lot of changes making metric measurements the primary measurement and the feet and inches the measurement in parenthesis.
 

dcspector

Senior Member
Location
Burke, Virginia
Requirement used to be six foot six inches. I can't remember which code it was but it changed to six foot seven inches to make it also an even 2 meters.

I am pretty sure it was either 1999 or 2002 code when it changed.

Same code also had a lot of changes making metric measurements the primary measurement and the feet and inches the measurement in parenthesis.

It was a change made in the 96' 380-8(a)
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
I dont mean to laugh at some guys, and I'm sure we all make some silly mistakes. There was a this crew that put a panel in upside down to help save on the wire to ben. Well, the panel being upside down made the 'breaker' upside down, so the on/off is reversed and the Electrical inspector rejected the job.

It may be an easier correction than you think - if they think about the panel enclosure and the guts of it as two seperate items .


Even if the main breaker is not reverseable as some have suggested then they should be able to find guts for the panel that are bottem fed. It may cost a few bucks to correct but it's not nearly as big of problem as they are making it out to be. ( I would check to see if the breaker could be reversed/flipped first)

I think a qualified electrician should be able to swap out the guts in a couple of hours if he doesn't take to many smoke breaks.

It's a stupid mistake but being a good electrician requires that you be good at correcting mistakes. Mistakes are made all the time and most do seem a bit stupid. Stuff Happens :).
 
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