Over sized Nema 3 panel

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jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
MAC702 said:
I missed this. How did you verify they were neutrals and not mis-colored EGCs? My money would have been on the latter, both because of what is typical for those types of loads, and it was very purposely done by whoever did it, when they could have easily hit the neutral bar the first time.
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I agree.

JAP>
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
retirede said:
Sounds like the A/C unit is nameplated for 35A max OCPD, but there is a 40A breaker. A reasonable notification, if true.
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Reasonable but this inspector either doesn't fully understand the rules that apply or is not very good at wording any violations he does find.

MAC702 said:
We need more than the bumper-sticker version. We need the inspector's context. I'm sure he said more that would give us a better idea what he was thinking, right or wrong.

What is the size of the breaker feeding this panel? What size are the feeders?

As noted, there are some minor issues, also.
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I think inspectors context was stated:

rydan said:
His quote was : " Outside panel is over-sized " ... Its a Cutler Hammer 3R panel. The wires on the right 2 pole 40 are blue ,,, just faded a bit.. The old a/c unit was 40 amp , but the new one only draws 35 amps.
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At very least guy needs to learn and use proper terminology - if unit actually draws 35 amps pretty good chance the max breaker size is going to be 60 or 70 amps. So the main question of what he did address here is 35 amps the MCA or MOCP?
 
M

MAC702

Senior Member
Location
Clark County, NV
kwired said:
I think inspectors context was stated:

Quote Originally Posted by rydan View Post
His quote was : " Outside panel is over-sized "
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I had assumed what was outside the quotation marks were observations by the OP, not part of the inspector's comments. The rest were probably paraphrased and that's why it seems the thread knew where to go. Makes sense.
 
rydan

rydan

Member
Location
RPB, Fl.
Spoke to the HO.. Asked them to speak with their " Home Inspector " to clarify " Over sized panel " He said he felt because they were only using the 2 - 2 pole breakers, the housing was " over sized for just 2 breakers " ....
 
R

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
rydan said:
Spoke to the HO.. Asked them to speak with their " Home Inspector " to clarify " Over sized panel " He said he felt because they were only using the 2 - 2 pole breakers, the housing was " over sized for just 2 breakers " ....
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He probably also told them that the house is oversized for their family?...
 
readydave8

readydave8

re member
Location
Clarkesville, Georgia
Occupation
electrician
rydan said:
Spoke to the HO.. Asked them to speak with their " Home Inspector " to clarify " Over sized panel " He said he felt because they were only using the 2 - 2 pole breakers, the housing was " over sized for just 2 breakers " ....
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He was probably just disappointed that he didn't find any "double taps"
 
W

wwhitney

Senior Member
Location
Berkeley, CA
Occupation
Retired
2002 NEC is available online at nfpa.org, and its 250.119 does not include the language prohibiting green insulation for circuit conductors. 2005 NEC does include that language.

Cheers, Wayne
 
J

jaggedben

Senior Member
Location
Northern California
Occupation
Solar and Energy Storage Installer
Okay, I'll take your words for it, and stand educated. Should have kept my mouth shut, I guess, since 2005 was the first cycle I worked under.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I think EGC's were required to use green (or be bare) for a long time, but there just wasn't always any language prohibiting using green for other purposes.
 
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