NM in Storage Battery Rooms

[paullmullen]

334.12(A)(7) is in the uses not permited for NM cable and specifies "Storage Battery Rooms". Would solar storage batteries placed in a garage turn the garage into a battery storage location for the purpose of interpreting permitted uses of NM?

 

[wwhitney]

See Article 480 for storage battery rules. I gather a self-contained BESS (battery energy storage system) is not a storage battery subject to Article 480.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[paullmullen]

I gather a self-contained BESS (battery energy storage system) is not a storage battery subject to Article 480.

How do you think we could go from "I gather" to something more defendable with an AHJ?

In 480.1 there is a reference to a bunch of IEEE standards which are clearly out of scope for a modern solar storage system. 480.10 (spaces about Battery Systems) uses a lot of phrases that imply that the authors are thinking about individual batteries and conductors open on racks. 480.10(E) talks about egress from battery rooms.

Then there is article 706 that is specifically about Energy Storage Systems. Specifically 706.10 talks about ESS Locations. If the authors intended to call rooms containing ESSs "battery rooms" then I would expect a reference to 480 in this section. No such reference exists. 706.34 talks about Battery Locations without reference to 480.

So it all adds up to matching your "sense" of the meaning of 480, but I wish the code were explicit. ;-)

 

[jaggedben]

Storage Batteries are covered in 480. A reference to "Storage Battery Rooms" elsewhere in the code refers to an installation covered by 480, not a 706 installation. The extra listings that ESS have ought to address whatever concern there is (I presume chemical) with NM in proximity to batteries.

I too wish it were more clear but I think it's pretty clear.