NEC Section 700.27 enforcement

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bdktoys

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York, Pa.
The 2005 NEC added section 700.27 to the code. I have a situation where the contractor is telling me that the equipment manufacturer does not want to perform this work. The contractor further researched and found out that the City inspector as well as his independant electrical inspector does not enforce this section of the code. The owner verified with their insurance carrier that they do not require this to be performed as long as the inspectors are ok with this.

My question is, does the local inspectors have juridiction to not to enforce this requirement and over rule the NEC? In the event of a disaster, who takes this liability?
 
bdktoys said:
My question is, does the local inspectors have juridiction to not to enforce this requirement and over rule the NEC? In the event of a disaster, who takes this liability?
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Since there is no Dark Overlord of all AHJ's, they are not bound to do anything unless you want to go to the City Council or something like that.

The liability would be on whomever the courts say it is.

Best advice, get it somehow in writing. Such as a specific note on the AHJ stamped plans that selective coordination is not being provided.

Even with that, in the end it is in the hands of the lawyers.
 
Larry,

How do you enforce this requirement? Do you get a letter from the engineer that performed the coordination study?
 
RB1 said:
Larry,

How do you enforce this requirement? Do you get a letter from the engineer that performed the coordination study?
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Yes, the electrical engineer should provide a letter showing the selective coordination calculations.

Chris
 
RB1 said:
Larry,

How do you enforce this requirement? Do you get a letter from the engineer that performed the coordination study?
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It has not come up yet. Things are pretty slow right now.

We will be asking for a definitive statement that the design professional has taken care of it. It will be made part of the approved plans.

edit add: We won't be checking time/current tables, calc's, etc.
 
Larry,

How can it be part of the plans? It seems that the coordination would be dependent upon the manufacturer of the equipment. Just curious. We are on the 2002 so this not an issue yet.
 
RB1 said:
Larry,

How can it be part of the plans? It seems that the coordination would be dependent upon the manufacturer of the equipment. Just curious. We are on the 2002 so this not an issue yet.
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They will have to specify a manufacturer at time of submittal. If the manufacturer changes then the plans would have to be submitted for a revision. Letters from designers have a tendency to get misplaced when records are archived.
 
RB1 said:
Larry,

How do you enforce this requirement? Do you get a letter from the engineer that performed the coordination study?
Click to expand...

The coordination has to be performed by the electrical equipment manufacturer. Sizing and selection of breakers will vary between the manufacturers. It was written in the specifications that way. My problem it that the manufacturer is bulking at doing this work and the City inspector is saying that they are not going to inforce this. However, once the letters started flying around, the City has elected NOT to wave this requirement. Now the manufacturer is forced to perform this coordination.
Thank you for your response.
 
bdktoys said:
The coordination has to be performed by the electrical equipment manufacturer. Sizing and selection of breakers will vary between the manufacturers. It was written in the specifications that way. My problem it that the manufacturer is bulking at doing this work and the City inspector is saying that they are not going to inforce this. However, once the letters started flying around, the City has elected NOT to wave this requirement. Now the manufacturer is forced to perform this coordination.
Thank you for your response.
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There is nothing in the NEC that requires the selective coordination study be performed only by the manufacturer.

Who chose the equipment?
Many times a manufacturer is given a set of plans to bid from and has had very little input into the actual equipment selection. It is all but impossible to obtain full selective coordination with randomly chosen equipment.

In my opinion, if the project specifications required selective coordination (which is usually not in the same section as the equipment specs) and the EC chose an "or equal" manufacturer without specifically asking if they met that section, the EC bears some of the responsibility for the results.
 
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