Panel in a Closet

[georgeswe]

I have a customer who wants to put a 120/208 200A panel in a closet that will also house sound equipment and computer equipment. My inspector came out and told me that i could not put a panel in a closet, I checked out the NEC and could not find any info on the subject. However, from personal experiance i have never had any problems with this in the past as long as I met min. clearance requirements when the doors to the equipment closet have been open. The closet is approximately 18" deep and has a 3-0 7-0 door and is basically there to hide the other equipment to be housed there. Have I been wrong all the installations that I have done in the past???

 

[charlie b]

Re: Panel in a Closet

You're not wrong. There is no prohibition agains putting a panel in a closet. As you say, just keep the equipment out of the reserved "working space," and you will be code-compliant.

 

[steve66]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Refer to it as the "Electrical Room" instead of the "closet".

Closet??? I don't see any closet??

Steve

 

[romeo]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Sounds like a equipment room to me. section 550.11 prohibits panels in a clothes closet, any clothes in the room ?

romeo

 

[roger]

Re: Panel in a Closet

I would say the inspector is mistakenly thinking 240.24(D)which makes mention of "clothes closets"

Roger

 

[augie47]

Re: Panel in a Closet

A fellow inspector told an electrician: "put all the panels in there you want, just no overcurrent protection dcevices" (240-24D)

Steve had a good answer: "what closet"

Seriously, in our jurisdiction, we debated the issue at lenght, most concerning "walk in" "clothes closets" and decided if it was a closet with ignitiable materials (again 240-24D)
we would accept a panel if a barrier wall was built to isolated the panel area while still providing adequate working space.

 

[georgeswe]

Re: Panel in a Closet

WOW hehe just posted 10 min ago Will be coming to this community a lot more often. Thanks for the help guys! I will do my best to help you guys answer any other ppls questions

Thank you

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Originally posted by georgeswe:
I will do my best to help you guys answer any other ppls questions

Ok then here is a question for you. I have a friend who says that the ground on a receptacle should be up, and sometimes they are down but the code says, well you know.

 

[redfish]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Here we go again.

 

[LarryFine]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Let George answer.

 

[celtic]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Originally posted by electricmanscott:
I have a friend who says that the ground on a receptacle should be up, and sometimes they are down but the code says, well you know.

Why oh why did you do that?

Multiple beatings for you scott:

...

...

...

 

[physis]

Re: Panel in a Closet

I turn my back for five minutes.

 

[jimwalker]

Re: Panel in a Closet

George,do your inspectors use nec or just make up there own rules ? or are you in an area where they exspect to find Jackson laying on the floor ? There is nothing to forbid it to even be called a closet,We assume the door fall within the work space.Only thing we warn about is water heaters in that room.They are legal but could do a lot of damage if they burst or leak.Share many rooms with the phone and data guys.Ask him to site the code he thinks you broke.And please forget about that receptacle direction,pretend he never asked

 

[gmreynol]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Yeah, what ever he said :roll:

 

[stevenj]

Re: Panel in a Closet

George, you should ask how much equipment this person is going to install in the future. A neighbor of mine has a closet the same size or bigger with hi-fi equipment and computer equipment installed in it. It was hot, hot in their. I even took a temp reading around the room with my fluke and the average was 92 deg F. in the winter. You could feel the heat pushing though the doorway from the closet when you opened it. the temp reading was taken when the door was closed , no vents in the closet. Maybe this is why the inspector wont allow it. My neighbor also wants to relocate his panel in the closet too. He has not done it yet, and will call me when he's ready, but I called the ADJ and mentioned the temp reading I took and he said add a vent may be a couple.that's it. nothing about that he can't

 

[mc5w]

Re: Panel in a Closet

The working space has to be clear of any equipment that is not needed to make the panelboard work. There are specifications in Article 110 as to unobstructed working space that is required.

What this guy needs are 2 closets, one for electrical distribution and the other for the audio equipment. The barrier between could be sheet metal to save on space.

In hospitals the ground hole of receptacles is required to be in the up position. However, many 120 volt household appliances that need grounding have angled plugs with the ground pin down. A ground pin up receptacle in a house would actually create a fire hazard by making the cord turn 180 degrees which will break wire strand over time.

Also, if a plug is part way out there will be extra heating also creating a fire hazard long before a metal object could drop across the hot and neutral prongs.

[ July 20, 2005, 02:56 AM: Message edited by: mc5w ]

 

[infinity]

Re: Panel in a Closet

In hospitals the ground hole of receptacles is required to be in the up position.

Do you have a code reference to support this?

 

[roger]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Infinity, don't hold your breath. He comes up with this stuff and then when questioned he'll disapear from the thread.


Roger

 

[wbalsam1]

Re: Panel in a Closet

In New York State, the Residential Electrical Code ( applies to 1-and 2-family dwellings) does not permit OCPD to be located within a clothes closet. See Section E3605.7(3) and Figure E3305.1 footnote (d).

[ July 20, 2005, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: wbalsam1 ]

 

[charlie b]

Re: Panel in a Closet

Originally posted by infinity:

In hospitals the ground hole of receptacles is required to be in the up position.

Do you have a code reference to support this?

No he doesn't, since there isn't one, as you well know.

For any "good reason" someone could present as to why the ground pin should be one way, there is another "good reason" why it should be the other way. Both are hazards. We should just eliminate the ground pin and be done with the debate.