408.4(A) Circuit Directory or Circuit Identification. Every circuit and circuit modification shall be legibly identified as to its clear, evident, and specific purpose or use. The identification shall include an approved degree of detail that allows each circuit to be distinguished from all others.
Spare positions that contain unused overcurrent devices or switches shall be described accordingly. The identification shall be included in a circuit directory that is located on the face or inside of the panel door in the case of a panelboard and at each switch or circuit breaker in a switchboard or switchgear. No circuit shall be described in a manner that depends on transient conditions of occupancy.
My question is that since NEC has no control over what the rooms in a structure are used for, how can they make the determination of what is a transient description and what is not. In my opinion, all descriptions are based on transient conditions of occupancy. I, fully, understand the reasons for this this rule but NEC has left out one important step that could make this rule work for safety and convenience.
When a contractor hires me to wire a new house or structure, they tell me what each room is to be used for. When I am labeling the breakers in the panelboard, I do so with such descriptions as Master Bedroom Rec, Bedroom Lights, Guest Bedroom Lights, Kitchen GFCI, Game Room Lights, etc. All of these descriptions have always passed inspection yet all of them depend on occupancy. In many cases, as soon as the owner of the structure begins to move into the structure, they decide to use these rooms for different purposes. The same thing may happen down the road when a new occupant moves into the structure. For instance, the guest bedroom becomes a sewing room or they decide to use one of the bedrooms as the game room and the game room as a bedroom or the den as a dining room and there is nothing that requires the structure owner who made these modifications to reflect any of the modifications on the panel board breaker descriptions so now NEC’s half thought out rule renders all of the breaker descriptions useless.
If NEC had thought this out prior to writing this rule, they would have required a simple block diagram of the structure layout with each of the rooms being labeled with a number or letter or color, in the place of the panel directory, and used the identifications on the layout to label the breakers, (for instance Room A receptacles) this would have been a permanent description not based on occupancy.
Spare positions that contain unused overcurrent devices or switches shall be described accordingly. The identification shall be included in a circuit directory that is located on the face or inside of the panel door in the case of a panelboard and at each switch or circuit breaker in a switchboard or switchgear. No circuit shall be described in a manner that depends on transient conditions of occupancy.
My question is that since NEC has no control over what the rooms in a structure are used for, how can they make the determination of what is a transient description and what is not. In my opinion, all descriptions are based on transient conditions of occupancy. I, fully, understand the reasons for this this rule but NEC has left out one important step that could make this rule work for safety and convenience.
When a contractor hires me to wire a new house or structure, they tell me what each room is to be used for. When I am labeling the breakers in the panelboard, I do so with such descriptions as Master Bedroom Rec, Bedroom Lights, Guest Bedroom Lights, Kitchen GFCI, Game Room Lights, etc. All of these descriptions have always passed inspection yet all of them depend on occupancy. In many cases, as soon as the owner of the structure begins to move into the structure, they decide to use these rooms for different purposes. The same thing may happen down the road when a new occupant moves into the structure. For instance, the guest bedroom becomes a sewing room or they decide to use one of the bedrooms as the game room and the game room as a bedroom or the den as a dining room and there is nothing that requires the structure owner who made these modifications to reflect any of the modifications on the panel board breaker descriptions so now NEC’s half thought out rule renders all of the breaker descriptions useless.
If NEC had thought this out prior to writing this rule, they would have required a simple block diagram of the structure layout with each of the rooms being labeled with a number or letter or color, in the place of the panel directory, and used the identifications on the layout to label the breakers, (for instance Room A receptacles) this would have been a permanent description not based on occupancy.
