busplug above ceiling

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mshields

mshields

Senior Member
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Boston, MA
I've got an existing electrical closet that has a vertical bus riser running through it with a disconnect plug in device near the structural ceiling.

For smoke related reasons, the architect wants to put a gyp ceiling into this closet with an access panel to get at the bus plug. I don't fully understand this, but that's what he wants to do.

I've told him that he can't do it citing the clearance requirements of Article 110.

What's more, this is already a violation of the 6'-6" handle rule and while it's an existing situation, it seems to me that when you start altering the room in any way that effects the switch, their is a responsibility to fix that situation as well.

Just looking for a sanity check here and any other reasons why this is not permissible. Or if you disagree - I'd certainly be interested in that feedback as well.

By the way, relocating the plug to a lower plug in location won't work either for reasons I won't bore you with.


Thanks,

Mike
 
The 6'-6" rule (actually, it is now 6'-7" :grin: ) does not apply to busways. See 240.24(A)(1) and 368.17(C). And given that you can't stand on the floor and work on a bus plug breaker at the ceiling level, I don't think the 110.26 working clearance requirements would apply to a busway either. I am not sure I could give you a code section that supports that last statement, however.

That said, I think you need to be able to operate the bus plug breaker from the floor. Putting an access panel in a gyp ceiling would prevent you from operating the breaker from the floor. So I think it would create a new violation of 368.17(C).
 
A riser closet shouldn't need any fire smoke mitigation. What's the reason for this gyp ceiling? Are the walls above ceiling height compromised?
 
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