Busduct / Bus plugs

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cornbread

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Looking for some help. We recently purchase a factory next to ours and power distribution method in the building we purchased is busduct / bus plugs. I've done a bit of research and it appears that bus plugs are still code compliant. I really want to gut the system and replace it with MCC's. Looking for some valid reason why bus plugs are unsafe, un-reliable or any other arguments to justify the cost of replacement. As always your replies are greatly appreciated.
 
In my opinion, I certainly would not gut the buss duct system. Many of the industrial customers I had when contracting would have given their eye-tooth to have inherited one. It seems to me the buss duct system and an MCC serve slightly different functions and I would lean toward having both, each as needed.
 
We are using them in lab environments to allow quick reconfiguration of the lab power as power needs change. Our safety policy does not allow us to remove or insert bus duct modules while the bus duct is energized, even though the bus duct instructions permit this to be done. Oyr policy requires bus duct to be de-energized before it is reconfigured. To facilitate this, each section of bus duct is supplied by a disconnect to power down the bus during reconfigurations. This has worked very well for us.


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We have I-Line bus ducts thru out our plant . Corporate America seems to like moving equipment around in their quest to constantly " make things better " . If this sounds like your company I would leave the bus in place . I feel these are just as safe as a MCC ...
 
Many of the the factories I have been in use bus ducts as they are an efficient way to reconfigure a factory floor when new machines arrive or an industrial engineer has a better idea for work flow.

Also MCC's serve a different purpose. Since they are Motor Control Centers the buckets usually have starters/contactors, indicating lights, Manual/Off/Auto switches etc.

It is almost like comparing apples and oranges.
 
So far I only have reason to keep it.. not what I was looking for..lol.

You folks that have busduct / bus plugs... what type of maintenance?

The system I'm looking at is probably 40 years old, is there much that can go wrong with the bus duct, do insulator and splices fail? The age of the equipment is one factor in my desire to replace the system. I may be way off base. Appreciate the replies.
 
cornbread said:
So far I only have reason to keep it.. not what I was looking for..lol.

You folks that have busduct / bus plugs... what type of maintenance?

The system I'm looking at is probably 40 years old, is there much that can go wrong with the bus duct, do insulator and splices fail? The age of the equipment is one factor in my desire to replace the system. I may be way off base. Appreciate the replies.
Click to expand...

my opinion :)
 
cornbread said:
So far I only have reason to keep it.. not what I was looking for..lol.

You folks that have busduct / bus plugs... what type of maintenance?

The system I'm looking at is probably 40 years old, is there much that can go wrong with the bus duct, do insulator and splices fail? The age of the equipment is one factor in my desire to replace the system. I may be way off base. Appreciate the replies.
Click to expand...

One thing you may want to look at is the availability of spares. That may affect your decision.

As far as maintenance, here is a doc that may help
 

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  • busduct maint.pdf
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OK I'm convinced we keep the Bus duct & bus plugs.
My next concern is they are talking about installing a drop ceiling... don't think we can cover the access to the bus plugs? Can anyone point to a NEC section that would address this?
 
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