electropat
Member
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Occupation
- Quality & Training Mgr.
So the NEC says a panelboard is: "a single panel or group of panel units designed for assembly in the form of a single panel, including buses and automatic overcurrent devices, and equipped with or without switches for the control of light, heat, or power circuits; designed to be placed in a cabinet or cutout box placed in or against a wall, partition, or other support; and accessible only from the front."
It says a switchboard is: "A large single panel, frame, or assembly of panels on which are mounted on the face, back, or both, switches, overcurrent, and other protective devices, buses, and usually instruments. These assemblies are generally accessible from the rear as well as from the front and are not intended to be installed in cabinets"
So, within those definitions, what is a "panel"??? This term escapes definition and logic. No one seems to define "panel" other than to mean a panelboard basically which is circular, and so can't be correct.
I used to think the actual panel in a panelboard was like the guts (the bussing, the insulative plastic that the bussing sat within and the metal frame that held it all together), exclusive of the cabinet and the trim and the dead front.
But switchboards do not have all that. They just have busbars and breakers and such. So if a switchboard can be "an assembly of panels" I'm thinking that they maybe mean the protective flat, rectangular sections that bolt onto the frame. But then that doesn't work for panelboards because they don't have those, they just have the dead front and trim and door.
Please *%$#! help me out. I hold something of a teaching role for electricians and this is punching a hole in my sanity.
If I am holding a singular, individual "panel" and absolutely nothing else in my hands, what am I holding? TIA. trolling welcome.
It says a switchboard is: "A large single panel, frame, or assembly of panels on which are mounted on the face, back, or both, switches, overcurrent, and other protective devices, buses, and usually instruments. These assemblies are generally accessible from the rear as well as from the front and are not intended to be installed in cabinets"
So, within those definitions, what is a "panel"??? This term escapes definition and logic. No one seems to define "panel" other than to mean a panelboard basically which is circular, and so can't be correct.
I used to think the actual panel in a panelboard was like the guts (the bussing, the insulative plastic that the bussing sat within and the metal frame that held it all together), exclusive of the cabinet and the trim and the dead front.
But switchboards do not have all that. They just have busbars and breakers and such. So if a switchboard can be "an assembly of panels" I'm thinking that they maybe mean the protective flat, rectangular sections that bolt onto the frame. But then that doesn't work for panelboards because they don't have those, they just have the dead front and trim and door.
Please *%$#! help me out. I hold something of a teaching role for electricians and this is punching a hole in my sanity.
If I am holding a singular, individual "panel" and absolutely nothing else in my hands, what am I holding? TIA. trolling welcome.
