Rear Access Requirements of Switchgear Installed within an Electrical Building

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Fieldgoal00

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When installing LV Switchgear inside of a building, where the switchgear has front and rear access. Rear Access is only used for terminations of the Line Side cables. The building will have hinged doors behind each section of switchgear to allow for access of the rear gear from outside of the building. The switchgear will be up against one wall of the building. Is there an NEC requirement where the rear access panels of the switchgear itself have to be bolted covers and not hinged doors? Basically if you were open one of the rear access doors of the building, would it matter if you saw another hinged door (part of the switchgear) or a bolted on panel (part of the switchgear)?

The picture I've attached is an example of the rear building doors that would each individually, when opened, allow access to a single section of the LV SWGR. The attached drawing and comments represents my comments above as to whether the gear itself can have doors or a bolted cover, or if it MUST have one of the other to meet any NEC requirements.
 

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Switchgear construction, like this, is not covered by the NEC. It is a design decision and is typically governed by standards by ANSI and UL. Every major manufacturer follows these standards so if they offer it, it is acceptable.
 
jim dungar said:
Switchgear construction, like this, is not covered by the NEC. It is a design decision and is typically governed by standards by ANSI and UL. Every major manufacturer follows these standards so if they offer it, it is acceptable.
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I think his concern seemed to be more about whether it was OK to hide the access to the back of the switchgear behind doors. I don't personally see an issue with it.

i wonder if this arrangement meets the working space requirements. Are the exterior doors at least 30 inches wide?
 
petersonra said:
I think his concern seemed to be more about whether it was OK to hide the access to the back of the switchgear behind doors. I don't personally see an issue with it.

i wonder if this arrangement meets the working space requirements. Are the exterior doors at least 30 inches wide?
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The outside doors, as in the OP, are usually part of the overall equipment enclosure provided by the manufacturer.
 
jim dungar said:
The outside doors, as in the OP, are usually part of the overall equipment enclosure provided by the manufacturer.
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The building manufacturer is constructing a building, that will have the rear access doors as shown in the photo. The Owner has purchased the switchgear that has rear doors for cable terminations and is shipping it to the building manufacturer to install it inside of the electrical building. The building vendor is trying to say it is a code violation for the rear access panels of the physical switchgear to have hinged doors and that they must be bolted panels instead because of working space requirements. I can't see where this application applies to the NEC working space requirements. The way I look at it is when you need to work on the gear, you open the exterior door of the building and then open the rear door of the gear a full 90 degrees and work on the rear of that specific section. I don't see why the hinged door versus bolted panel is even an issue.

110.26(A) of the NEC is only for equipment that would need to be accessed while energized.

Working space for equipment operating at 1000 volts, nominal, or less to ground and likely to require examination, adjustment, servicing, or maintenance while energized shall comply with the dimensions of 110.26(A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(3), and (A)(4) or as required or permitted elsewhere in this Code.

The rear compartments are only for cable terminations, any work performed in the rear compartments would require the equipment to be LOTO as the Owner does not allow work on energized gear.
 
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I think if you can successfully claim that access is not required to work on it while energized from the back side, you are probably OK. what does the ahj say about it?

otherwise, in lieu of the hinged doors on the building I would get roll up doors that span more than one section so I always had at least 30" of width for working space..
 
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