electrical panels getting extremely wet

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verlet

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hello. I have a situation in which 8 electrical panels got very wet with water from a busted sprinkler pipe. I am going to replace the breakers but was wondering if anyone knew if the National Electric Code says that I should change the panels altogether. If so, what article number ? thank you so much in advance for the answers.
 
The NEC has nothing to say about this but the manufacturer of the equipment may. IMO, change it all especially if there is a main breaker involved
 
Try
110.12(B) Integrity of Electrical Equipment and Connections.
Internal parts of electrical equipment, including busbars, wiring terminals, insulators, and other surfaces, shall not be damaged or contaminated by foreign materials such as paint, plaster, cleaners, abrasives, or corrosive residues. There shall be no damaged parts that may adversely affect safe operation or mechanical strength of the equipment such as parts that are broken; bent; cut; or deteriorated by corrosion, chemical action, or overheating.

This is still a judgement call on if the water/glycol has a corrosive effect on the busbar
 
water damaged equipment

water damaged equipment

North Dakota has a state standard that requires all water damaged equipment/devices/wiring to be replaced. It goes back to the Manufacturers Instructions which I believe it was stated in one form or another from the manufacturers that if the equipment or devices or wire has been submerged or otherwise in contact with and it is not listed for such, that it is to be replaced. That's what they told the State Electrical Board here.
 
verlet said:
hello. I have a situation in which 8 electrical panels got very wet with water from a busted sprinkler pipe. I am going to replace the breakers but was wondering if anyone knew if the National Electric Code says that I should change the panels altogether. If so, what article number ? thank you so much in advance for the answers.
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NEMA has a paper on this: http://www.nema.org/standards/pages/evaluating-water-damaged-electrical-equipment.aspx
A number of the Western states are using this as the standard. Experience has shown that even bus bars are an issue due to the contaminates in the water (even so called "clean" fire sprinkler water) and this leads to bus/breaker connection failure due to damage of the plating material that is not immediately apparent.
 
I've done 2 of these this year. The first was beyond repair in the first place, the second the ahj said the MC wire was good just replace the breakers?
I had a sprinkler go off couple days ago, comes out crappy at first but it comes out clean pretty quick. :lol:
 
GoldDigger said:
So Adjustable Speed Drives can be reconditioned, but equipment containing semiconductors and (???) transistors must be replaced.
Do you understand that part?
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Yep, maybe. I have reconditioned a 2000HP 2300V old Robicon Current Source Inverter that was in a flooded pump station, under muddy water for a week. Lead time on a replacement was 50+ weeks at that time, they had no other option but to try to rebuild it, and I was the only local guy with any experience on Robicons (this was well before the Siemens buy-out). Disassembled it, cleaned all the big parts by hand with tooth brushes and air hoses, ran the PC boards through my dishwasher (no soap), dried them in the oven, plugged everything back in and she fired up and ran! Took over a week of non-stop labor, a pair of rented industrial blower/heaters, a rented 20HP portable air compressor and a ton of distilled water, but it worked.

To be honest, I was not really expecting it to though... but since I was being paid to be optimistic, I hid my shock!
 
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