NEC rules on installing a 200A 3-phase 208 panel horizontally on it's back?

herding_cats

Senior Member
Location
Kansas
Occupation
Mechanical Engineer
I need to land a subpanel laying flat on it's back on top of a commercial freezer. It's in a grocery store supplying power to the defrost heater systems. Is there any code violations by doing this? I don't see anything that says you can't. It's not a wet location and it's about 7 feet in the air on top of the freezer.
 
I'm not sure. It was done in laundromats, under the covers between the back-to-back machines.

I'm thinking it has been disallowed, but I'm not sure whether it was the position or the location.
 
Exactly I have seen one in a laundromat. Another feeding kilns at a pottery operation a few years ago.
 
The following was added in the 2020 code, and expanded in the 2023 to also prohibit panels in the face-down position.
408.43 Panelboard Orientation.
Panelboards shall not be installed in the face-up position.
 
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