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chick2

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On one exterior wall of a commercial building I have the main electrical panel (towards the corner of the wall). On the opposite side wall I would like to install an accessory shed. Obviously I do not want to block access to the electrical panel with the placement of the shed. Is there any specific distance I should keep in mind when locating the shed from the electrical panel?

Thanks,

Chick2
 
First, I want to express appreciation for your making the effort to get this installation done correctly. The answer to your question will depend on the voltage level of the main electric panel. But the most you are likely to need to keep clear is four feet. The smallest distance that must remain clear is three feet, but that is for a panel with a voltage level of 150 volts to ground.
 
Just to clarify for the folks that may be confused by the term 120/240, that usually means two 120 volt phases, so a typical residential panel is considered to fall within the 3 feet rule.

Not that an extra foot would be a bad idea, and prevent you from compliance issues if the service changes later. But not required on a typical "220" panel.

But commercial is often 3-phase, which is always above 150 volts.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) covers this question for your reference in Article 110.26

Edit: The reason for clearance is to help assure the safety of the electrician working on the panel.
 
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danickstr said:
. . . 120/240, that usually means two 120 volt phases . . .

But commercial is often 3-phase, which is always above 150 volts.
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T'ain't necessarily so. 240/120 and 208/120 are both 120v line-to-neutral. Guess which one has the lower line-to-line voltage?

There are also apartment buildings which supply 208/120 1ph to each unit, derived from 208/120v 3ph, so you can't simply classify one system as residential and another as commercial.
 
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you are right of course Larry, but the NEC uses line to neutral as the criteria for determining this rating in 110

edit: line to ground.
 
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