cleanfarmer
Member
- Location
- Summerville, SC, USA
I am the electrician building aeroponic vertical farms inside shipping containers. We have high pressure water being sprayed inside enclosed growing panels, relative humidity around 65%, and a lot of electrical equipment. I am building these to feasibly sell anywhere in the country so I want to build to the highest interpretation of the NEC instead of my local AHJ viewpoint. I have found a lot of questions answered on this forum already that help me in navigating the NEC and other requirements, so thank you all.
I have receptacles installed in the overhead that are dedicated for 12 total circulating fans. I have this branch circuit from a 20 amp breaker supplying two strings of receptacles protected by GFCI receptacles. These GFCIs sporadically trip, if it happens for a long period of time such as overnight/weekend there is noticable crop damage resulting in lost merchandise. Understandably, my boss does not want this to happen, leading me on a long search of what I can do about it.
Reading the NEC and searching online forums including this one I think I can legally and safely remove the GFCI protection completely, but I want to make sure I am not leading myself to the wrong conclusion and above all i want to make sure it is still as safe as working with electricity can realistically be:
These are not dwelling units, and an argument could be made that they are agricultural buildings or standalone garages. These receptacles are not readily accessible based on the definition and needing a portable ladder to access, and the receptacles are for dedicated appliances (I would change out the duplex for single receptacles to meet this) I have read this exclusion mostly online and haven't been able to find a hard NEC reference yet, I would appreciate one if someone knows. 210.8(B) Exception 2 is close but that is specific to certain appliances. Can anyone provide validation or clear guidance in this?
From a practical standpoint and reading into the "not readily accessible and supply specific appliance" clause, it seems the hazard is plugging and unplugging the cord, not as much focused on the equipment developing a fault (the breaker would trip to protect the equipment/wiring)
Clearly I don't fall under Exception of removal of power introducing a greater hazard than the GFCI trip. Losing a few thousand dollars of crop is not on the same playing field as electrocution. I'm not trying to cut corners but find the correct level of protection and reliability.
I have receptacles installed in the overhead that are dedicated for 12 total circulating fans. I have this branch circuit from a 20 amp breaker supplying two strings of receptacles protected by GFCI receptacles. These GFCIs sporadically trip, if it happens for a long period of time such as overnight/weekend there is noticable crop damage resulting in lost merchandise. Understandably, my boss does not want this to happen, leading me on a long search of what I can do about it.
Reading the NEC and searching online forums including this one I think I can legally and safely remove the GFCI protection completely, but I want to make sure I am not leading myself to the wrong conclusion and above all i want to make sure it is still as safe as working with electricity can realistically be:
These are not dwelling units, and an argument could be made that they are agricultural buildings or standalone garages. These receptacles are not readily accessible based on the definition and needing a portable ladder to access, and the receptacles are for dedicated appliances (I would change out the duplex for single receptacles to meet this) I have read this exclusion mostly online and haven't been able to find a hard NEC reference yet, I would appreciate one if someone knows. 210.8(B) Exception 2 is close but that is specific to certain appliances. Can anyone provide validation or clear guidance in this?
From a practical standpoint and reading into the "not readily accessible and supply specific appliance" clause, it seems the hazard is plugging and unplugging the cord, not as much focused on the equipment developing a fault (the breaker would trip to protect the equipment/wiring)
Clearly I don't fall under Exception of removal of power introducing a greater hazard than the GFCI trip. Losing a few thousand dollars of crop is not on the same playing field as electrocution. I'm not trying to cut corners but find the correct level of protection and reliability.
