Does the NEC allow a loadcenter to be located in residential kitchen?

Status
Not open for further replies.
tadavidson said:
Well, the title asked it all. If no, please provide code reference. Thanks
Click to expand...
I see no prohibition in the code.
But it might be difficult to provide the required working and dedicated space for the panel.
Putting it inside an upper cabinet, for example, would be clearly prohibited.
 
Last edited:
Providing the working space is met there is no prohibition. In commercial kitchens the panels are usually located within the kitchen.
 
You might be thinking of bathrooms. That and a few related restrictions applying to overcurrent devices are in 240.24(C) through (F).
 
petersonra said:
Mine is behind my refrigerator
Click to expand...

I just worked on one behind the fridge today. I asked the tenant where it was and she replied with, "We don't have one." Knowing that answer is clearly incorrect (or my service call just got a lot longer) I went outside to find the meter. She was both surprised and annoyed to see it when I pulled the fridge out! :thumbsup:
 
MNSparky said:
I just worked on one behind the fridge today. I asked the tenant where it was and she replied with, "We don't have one." Knowing that answer is clearly incorrect (or my service call just got a lot longer) I went outside to find the meter. She was both surprised and annoyed to see it when I pulled the fridge out! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...



That is a terrible location for a panel!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
peter d said:
That is a terrible location for a panel!!
Click to expand...

I have not found it to be a problem. The few times I have needed to get at it I just roll the fridge forward so the panel is accessible. It is not ideal but it has not been a source of grief for me and I have been here since 1986.
 
MNSparky said:
I just worked on one behind the fridge today. I asked the tenant where it was and she replied with, "We don't have one." Knowing that answer is clearly incorrect (or my service call just got a lot longer) I went outside to find the meter. She was both surprised and annoyed to see it when I pulled the fridge out! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Years ago I did some troubleshooting for a dead receptacle circuit in a very nice home on a lake. The owners said the circuit had been dead since they bought the house several years before. The circuit fed several receptacles in a section of the basement which was being used for storage. A few others had tried to find the open in the circuit, to no avail. When I got there, I hooked up my circuit tracer and traced out the wires through the wall. They went to one side of a refrigerator, but not the other. This was a big, heavy fridge that had been left there by the previous owner. I needed to trace the wall behind the fridge, so me and the owner dragged this fridge out and on the wall behind the fridge......was a subpanel. With one breaker tripped. I turned the breaker back on, and all the receptacles came back 'on'. The HO had no clue there was a subpanel behind that refrigerator.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top