Panels over stairs

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ryan_618

ryan_618

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Salt Lake City, Utah
Panel 1 has routinely rejected proposals that would prohibit panelboards from being installed over stairs, including in this cycle. Unless the TCC intervenes (and I don't think they will), Panel 10 has snuck this rule into 240.24
(F) Not located over steps. Overcurrent devices shall not be located over steps of a stairway.
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Good job Charlie E!

Edited for spelling.
 
(F) Not located over steps. Overcurrent devices shall not be located over steps of a stairway.
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Hmmm... what about in a wall to one side of the stairway. That would "not be located over steps of a stairway."
 
110.26 has the same issue with the top and bottom plates of the wall being above and below the panel in the required clear space area. :)

However it seems to work as written.

Just curious....is there an exception for integral overcurrent devices of equipment?
 
I have never been a fan of locating a panel over stairs, so this would not bother me. I do not think that panels in stair wells is a good idea, one slip and loosing one's balance is not too hard to do in the stairwell... And for all of you who are in good shape and have great balance, wait... the day will come when you are maybe a little older and you will notice that your balance may not be what is was years ago. ;)
 
While I have no particular opposition to it, when you compare the Scope statements (xxx.1) of the Articles, this Proposal doesn't belong in Article 240. Most CMPs don't review their Scopes during the review process and this is why the NEC becomes jumbled and occasionally contradictory.
 
If the panel is mounted within the horizontal plane of the stair risers how can it comply with 110.26????? No matter what you think there would be a riser that encroaches into the clear working space of another stair riser,unless the stair treads were 30 in across.
 
allenwayne said:
If the panel is mounted within the horizontal plane of the stair risers how can it comply with 110.26????? No matter what you think there would be a riser that encroaches into the clear working space of another stair riser,unless the stair treads were 30 in across.
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According to panel 1, that is not a violation. Nothing in 110.26 says the ground (or floor) has to be level.
 
ryan_618 said:
According to panel 1, that is not a violation. Nothing in 110.26 says the ground (or floor) has to be level.
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I agree to a point but, if you have to maintain a clear working space for 30 ins, left or to the right and there is a step involved and the standard step is 12 ins wide .How can you maintain that 30 ins. without another step encroaching that 30 ins ?????No matter how you measure there will be an encroachment
 
MTHead,


Sure wasn't Tesla, or George Westinghouse. Fear of being Westinghoused, can't trust that AC!
 
I conducted a home inspection last week where the Main Panel was located on the Left Wall of the Main Stairs as you went up the stairs. The Home did not have a basement but was remodeled in 1986.
 
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