Electrical Control Cabinet Doors

[jgluck]

I am involved in the specifying of new equipment. I would prefer that all electrical cabinets have doors that swing left/right or open like French doors. We had a machine builder from Europe build a machine with a control cabinet door that opened down to the floor. This makes it very difficult for our maintenance folks to work on the machine.

Is there anywhere in the NEC, IEC or NFPA that says the direction that the doors must open. I am aware of the 36" space rule and the 90 degree opening rule, but I have not found anything definitive to use in our general machine specification that refers to not having the door open down. This is not a problem with a small 12x12 cabinet. It does however become a problem for a anything much larger than that size.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[ActionDave]

Why don't you tell the people you are hiring how you want the doors put on? This is a design issue not a safety standards issue.

 

[Besoeker]

I am involved in the specifying of new equipment. I would prefer that all electrical cabinets have doors that swing left/right or open like French doors. We had a machine builder from Europe build a machine with a control cabinet door that opened down to the floor. This makes it very difficult for our maintenance folks to work on the machine.

Is there anywhere in the NEC, IEC or NFPA that says the direction that the doors must open. I am aware of the 36" space rule and the 90 degree opening rule, but I have not found anything definitive to use in our general machine specification that refers to not having the door open down. This is not a problem with a small 12x12 cabinet. It does however become a problem for a anything much larger than that size.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

If you buy electrical enclosures from say, Eldo, Rittal, or any of the mainstream manufacturers you can normally hinge the door either way. And they are cheaper than custom built cabinets as a rule.

 

[drktmplr12]

What reason did they have for locating the hinge on the bottom lip?

To me, there better be a good design reason because it is reasonable to assume that a single door would be mounted with hinge to the left. That being said, you might be out of luck if you are looking for a way to "convince" the manufacturer to relocate the hinge. Did anyone look at and approve a shop drawing of what you were going to get?

 

[jgluck]

What reason did they have for locating the hinge on the bottom lip?

To me, there better be a good design reason because it is reasonable to assume that a single door would be mounted with hinge to the left. That being said, you might be out of luck if you are looking for a way to "convince" the manufacturer to relocate the hinge. Did anyone look at and approve a shop drawing of what you were going to get?

The machine builder had already built the machine and electrical cabinet before I became involved. Normally we require design reviews prior to parts being purchased.

 

[Jraef]

I've seen that when someone wants the open door to function as a shelf, for example when using a keyboard that's stored inside behind the door, in which case they will have support arms or chains for holding it at 90 degrees (or more).


I've also seen it for chart recorders, so that you have a little shelf to use when changing the paper.

But to answer your question, no. There is no code requirement for door opening direction. Just common sense...

 

[jgluck]

What reason did they have for locating the hinge on the bottom lip?

To me, there better be a good design reason because it is reasonable to assume that a single door would be mounted with hinge to the left. That being said, you might be out of luck if you are looking for a way to "convince" the manufacturer to relocate the hinge. Did anyone look at and approve a shop drawing of what you were going to get?

We are in the process of requesting a quote and want to make sure that we do not get another door with the hinge mounted on the bottom of the cabinet, like we received on the first machine from this builder. Yes, we can specify that the door opens on the left, right or middle, but I was hoping there was a standard that discouraged this type of mount.