Greg S.
Member
- Location
- Nashville TN
I already am pretty sure I know the answer to this but I am looking for validation.
I had a piece of equipment come in to my shop which we are integrating into an assembly line. The piece is a bowl feeder with a seperate hopper and bucket conveyor combination to feed the bowl. The electrical enclosure is mounted on the frame of the feeder but when the hopper is rolled into place and plugged in it is 3" in front of the door of the enclosure. It has been argued to me that the hopper can roll out of the way in a minute and the enclosure cannot be accessed until the hopper is moved so there is no violation. The enclosure contains a PLC, safety relays and motor drives so the likelyhood that the enclosure will need to be serviced while live is almost 100% NEC 110.26 says 42" clearance in front of equipment that will require maintenance while live, since there is 208 VAC inside the enclosure. There is a disconnect, and even pushbuttons you cannot see the ledgends to mounted on the door (another violation).
Am I missing something about mobile equipment or another exception I cannot find. The equipment is made in England by a company that does this type of work all the time. I didn't look into it yet but CE codes are usually more prohibitave than NEC, NFPA-79, OSHA or any other US code I have worked with so I doubt it would even clear the company's home standard.
Bad thing is that our people signed off on it before we noticed the violations.
Any comments? Did I miss something about machine tools etc???
I had a piece of equipment come in to my shop which we are integrating into an assembly line. The piece is a bowl feeder with a seperate hopper and bucket conveyor combination to feed the bowl. The electrical enclosure is mounted on the frame of the feeder but when the hopper is rolled into place and plugged in it is 3" in front of the door of the enclosure. It has been argued to me that the hopper can roll out of the way in a minute and the enclosure cannot be accessed until the hopper is moved so there is no violation. The enclosure contains a PLC, safety relays and motor drives so the likelyhood that the enclosure will need to be serviced while live is almost 100% NEC 110.26 says 42" clearance in front of equipment that will require maintenance while live, since there is 208 VAC inside the enclosure. There is a disconnect, and even pushbuttons you cannot see the ledgends to mounted on the door (another violation).
Am I missing something about mobile equipment or another exception I cannot find. The equipment is made in England by a company that does this type of work all the time. I didn't look into it yet but CE codes are usually more prohibitave than NEC, NFPA-79, OSHA or any other US code I have worked with so I doubt it would even clear the company's home standard.
Bad thing is that our people signed off on it before we noticed the violations.
Any comments? Did I miss something about machine tools etc???
