Re: Can a subpanel lay flat on a shelf?
Amazing how hard it is when you have to think- and can't just point to a code section!
I expect that there are all sorts of panels mounted in funny positions inside casino signs, stage lighting arrangements, etc. Assuming that's so, where's the problem?
Every enclosure has some sort of NEMA rating. I submit that any orientation that doesn't defeat the NEMA designation is OK. For example, a NEMA-4 enclosure is rain tight from any angle, but a NEMA-3R is tested from only one direction.
I like your cat drawing, Joe, but I don't thing they still make panels without doors. Morris won't be standing on the breakers themselves....
As for breakers having "down" for "off," I recently encountered a UL-listed Square-D combination service panel where this was not possible; half of the breakers had "up" for "off."
Picture, if you will, a meter mounted above a NEMA-3R door, with two rows of breakers in the lower compartment. The top row would have "down" for "on," while the bottom row had "down" for "off." Square-D simply mounted the guts of a standard panel sideways and placed the meter above. The service disconnect had "down" for "on." I don't see it in their current "digest," but the one I worked on wasn't very old.
