Refrigeration Equipment Disconnect

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l3city

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Hi fellas, NEC 2002 Art 440.14 says the disconnect can be "installed on or within the air-conditioning or refrigerating equipment". In addition to this, the NEC continues saying that the "disconnecting means shall not be located on panels that are designed to allow access to the air-conditioning or refrigerating equipment". This is basically the confusing part as first it says you can install a disc. "on or within" the air-cond. equipment.

Recently a contractor installed the disconnect within the control box (inside("within") the equipment). Is this causing a violation to the statement "disconnecting means shall not be located on panels that are designed to allow access to the air-conditioning or refrigerating equipment"?.

How do you interpret this fellas?:smile:
Thanks for your time
 
Most of the RTU's nowadays have pretty much every panel "designed to be removed", so you're not permitted to hang the disconnect off these panels. The corner posts on many RTU's aren't really meant to be removed, so this is a spot I popularly pick to hang a disco off of.

Here's a pictorial example of a few brand new RTU's that have the disco non-compliantly mounted on a panel that is designed to be removed. In fact, there are many electrical components that are only best accessed if this panel is removed, yet the installer chose to mount his disco's on this panel anyhow on all the units. Shame, shame.

designedtoberemoved.jpg
 
Hvac

Hvac

Mark, I see that very often, and, I certainly may have been looking at it incorrectly, but, I don't see that panel as "designed to be removed". Granted, it can be, but the two adjacent panels provide all the access needed for servicing.
 
augie47 said:
Mark, I see that very often, and, I certainly may have been looking at it incorrectly, but, I don't see that panel as "designed to be removed". Granted, it can be, but the two adjacent panels provide all the access needed for servicing.
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Consider the fact that the panel in my picure comes off the exact same way as the panel that is already removed in the picture.

Consider the fact that the fuse holder for all the items on the unit is behind the panel that has the disconnect mounted on it.

Consider the fact that the only way to get a torch in to properly change out the reversing valve would be to remove the panel that the disconnect is mounted on.

If it can be removed, it's designed to be removed. Maybe I have an unfair advantage, in that I also do HVAC work. Nearly every panel on most RTU's is designed to be removed, and will be removed to perform some type of service or another on an RTU at some point in it's life. When a heat exchanger or a condenser coil is being changed out on an RTU, the unit becomes unrecognizable due to so many panels removed.
 
Thanks for your answers, but (still I little confused) according to your posts, where exactly shall the disconnect be mounted? Does the contractor needs to porvide special hardware just to mount a disconnect?
thanks :smile:
 
If all the panels are removable, the contractor should use him in-genuity to assemble a mounting device for the disconnect. There are many options (too many to list), why not build a rack from unistrut?
 
l3city said:
Thanks for your answers, but (still I little confused) according to your posts, where exactly shall the disconnect be mounted? Does the contractor needs to porvide special hardware just to mount a disconnect?
thanks :smile:
Click to expand...
In my picture, the corner post of the unit would be a good place. You can't tell from the picture so well, but in the background was a tall parapet wall that would have accomodated all of the AC disconnects and still been within 50 feet of each RTU.
 
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