Report on Proposals A2007 ? Copyright, NFPA NFPA 70
Substantiation: Exception No.1 to 230.40 is the source of considerable
misunderstanding for installers as well as inspectors. It is in apparent conflict
with 230.70(A)(1) Readily Accessible Location, and with 230.72(A)
Grouping of Disconnects. It is also in apparent conflict with the basic safety
premise of 230.71(A) Maximum Number of Disconnects.
When taken literally, 230.40 Exception No. 1 would seem to allow an
unlimited number of disconnects in an unspecified number of tenant spaces, as
long as there were no more than six at any one location. There is no mention of
area separation requirements that are essential to prevent the spread of fire and
provide for the safety of fire fighters or rescue personnel. In the event of a fire,
earthquake or other disaster, rescue personnel would be severely hampered by
working against energized service, feeder, and branch circuit conductors that
could not be readily disconnected at a common location in such an emergency.
The term ?occupancy? is not defined in the National Electrical Code or in
the generally adopted building codes. The building codes (several words are
unreadable) some which require fire rated or area separation walls, and others
which do not. The result is that ?occupancy? in 230.40, Exception No. 1 is
used to justify running service conductors to a number of tenant spaces. With
the flexible tenant space nature of many commercial buildings, this results in
modified spaces that have no service or panel, or enlarged tenant spaces and
may have two sets of service conductors and disconnects within the single,
enlarged tenant space. This creates additional Code violations, besides the
extremely hazardous situation created by having multiple service locations in
the original building configuration.
The National Electrical Code has continually moved forward to promote
safety for buildings, the occupants, and rescue personnel. 230.40, Exception
No.1 runs counter to those safety concepts. There is no compelling need for
this exception, as other provisions in Article 230 provide ample opportunities
for installations to be made in every conceivable building and to every
occupancy, without the associated hazard of running service conductors to each
of them. It is time to remove this unnecessary exception to an otherwise good
installation standard for electrical services.
Panel Meeting Action: Reject
Panel Statement: This particular exception has been in the NEC since at
least the 1946 NEC where Section 1807 permitted, by special permission,
more than one set of service drop in a multi-occupancy building where there
was no available space for service equipment accessible to all occupants.
This exception permitted the occupant to have access to their own service
disconnecting means. Section 1837 required a multiple occupancy building
having individual occupancies above the second floor to have the service
equipment grouped in a common accessible location and to consist of not
more than six switches or circuit breakers. However, any multiple occupancy
building that did not have any individual occupancy above the second floor
could have the service conductors run to each occupancy and have up to six
switches or circuit breakers at that location.
Since this rule has existed since the early 1940s without a major change to
the intent, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to change this section
of the Code and there was no technical substantiation given in the proposal to
provide a reason to delete this rule. The submitter did not provide any specific
examples of problems that have occurred where service entrance conductors
have been installed in accordance with the current permissive requirements in
this section.
Exception 1 to 230.40 is a necessary and commonly used allowance for
supplying power in multiple occupancy buildings. The building is still only
permitted to have one service riser or lateral that would allow the power to be
removed from all occupancies when necessary by the disconnection of the riser
or lateral conductors.
Number Eligible to Vote: 10
Ballot Results: Affirmative: 10
