Garage as "wet location"

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SceneryDriver

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Electrical and Automation Designer
I'm trying to get ahead of the curve here:
Planning to place a surface mount breaker panel in a garage. Panel has a Type 1 enclosure. Is there a minimum distance it has to be from the garage door opening? I'm imagining the inspector's the argument that if the garage is left open in a storm, the panel could get wet. My response is: so will my living room if I leave the front door open during a storm, but that doesn't make my living room a wet location. Thoughts?



SceneryDriver
 
I have heard about 45° measurements to determine if it is out of the wet location but the NEC is silent on that. My guess is that since garage doors are left open all of time there is a good chance that a driving train cold contact the panel of it were very close to the door.
 
I would take the wet location approach for a carport. I take that same approach when I wire cabanas and such, too.

But if a garage has a door which can be closed, I don't see how a "what if" could be imposed. A set of french doors could open up 6 feet of weather exposure into a basement, which could in turn have a nema 1 panel
 
Look into the test requirements for typical weatherproof Type 3R enclosures. They are usually designed to protect against falling water, not water splashing up, but the test criteria contains the angles they are designed for.
 
There’s nothing in the NEC that says to consider an interior location wet because a door could be left open.

Having said that, sometimes common sense would dictate going beyond code.

The definition of a dry location even states that it may temporarily be subject to wetness. To me, the example given “as in the case of a building under construction” is not limiting the temporary condition to only that.

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SceneryDriver said:
I'm trying to get ahead of the curve here:
Planning to place a surface mount breaker panel in a garage. Panel has a Type 1 enclosure. Is there a minimum distance it has to be from the garage door opening? I'm imagining the inspector's the argument that if the garage is left open in a storm, the panel could get wet. My response is: so will my living room if I leave the front door open during a storm, but that doesn't make my living room a wet location. Thoughts?



SceneryDriver
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IMO, you have absolutely nothing to worry about here.

Ron
 
SceneryDriver said:
I'd agree, but this inspector is known for his... creative interpretations...


SceneryDriver
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So get ahead of the situation and give the inspector a call. Usually there is a short section of wall on both sides of the garage door so the panel would be protected assuming it's on the parallel wall.
 
I have done a lot of 100 amp service upgrades in old houses that had both the meter enclosure ( black meter box with offset legs ) & fuse box within a foot of garage door and even after 50 years only saw minor surface rust and never any water inside the boxes. A few times people would ask for a price on relocating the circuits to the new circuit breaker panel in their basements but they never wanted to spend the money.
 
Buck Parrish said:
If you're inspector is picky. I'd say that panel location is probably the least of your worries. I'm assuming it's a house's garage. Is the garage detached?
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Yes. It's a two-car, two- garage door garage for a single family home.

No. The garage is attached.

This is a subpanel to facilitate a future EV charging installation. I'll probably just place it farther back on the wall, away from the garage door opening to eliminate the discussion.
 
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