Is main breaker required in apt. sub panel?

[mxslick]

We will have to disagree there, I can't see that it really matters.

The FD would not hesitate to hit the building main if they really felt the need to turn off that unit.

True, if the building had a main..I've seen a few that don't.. (Mainly older ones, pardon the pun.)

The building I'm in now doesn't have one, we have five units and only the panel I did for my unit has a main in it..it's downstairs in the doghouse.

Since there are five panels, and each has more than a single pole breaker in it, does this make a violation of the "six throws of the hand" rule? Maybe I should get a pic of our service here and start a new thread...


Come to think of it, in the case I cited above, a main in the panel in the unit would have been useless..the fire started in the room with the panel, and made the panel inaccessible anyways.

So I stand by the "good idea" theory, but is it cost efficient or a major enhancement of safety? Most likely not on both counts.

Edited to add:

60 amp main in the apt panel, then a 60 amp CB in the MDP located in a locked electric room. Problem occurs that trips the 60 amp main. Which one trips? The redundant 60 amp in the apt is serving no purpose.

Good point. Wanna bet which one will go first most of the time?

The only real saving grace of the one in the unit is it is a quick cutoff for all circuits in that panel, and if maintenance needs to be done in the panel you have a disconnecting means in plain sight while you're working. Probably the only advantage when it comes down to it...

 

[mdshunk]

60 amp main in the apt panel, then a 60 amp CB in the MDP located in a locked electric room. Problem occurs that trips the 60 amp main. Which one trips? The redundant 60 amp in the apt is serving no purpose.

No purpose besides fulfilling a code requirement.

 

[ZZZ]

These particular units have no building manager, although the company has a 24 hour emergency hotline about 10 miles away. The main electrical service is in the basement which serves as the electrical and mechanical rooms for this building. Therefore the tenant in any apartment will not have access to all of the OCD's that serve their space, since each 150 amp main that serves the feeder to each tenant panel is not accessible to them. The largest individual breaker in the tenant panels will be 50 amps.
My question was more related to whether or not a (redundant) 150 amp main breaker in the apartments is required since the owner doesn't want the larger panels for aesthetic reasons. The cost of one load center over the other was never part of the equation. The AHJ here will go along with anything short of running an extension cord up the downspout, but I just wanted to know some other opinions.

 

[peter d]

(Fire was caused by meth lab gone wrong.)

A meth lab in southern California? You're kidding me, right?

 

[safari49]

240.24(B) says the tennant SHALL have access to overcurrent devices serving that occupancy.
Does this mean that even if we install main breakers we may not have a overcurrent device ahead of this in an electrical room if the room is locked??? The section says ALL.

The addition of section 240.24(B)(1) seams to imply there is a difference in branch circuit overcurrenr protection access and that required for feeders