Standards Council Meeting August 18th -- Appeal on GFCI reach

[brycenesbitt]

Motor Trend, where I get most of my breaking news on circuit protection just released:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/national-electric-code-revision-threatens-ev-charging

"Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for the industry cognoscenti to make a convincing case."

"That addition to the NEC didn’t last long. In August, the NFPA Standards Council made the rare decision to override the code-making panel based on an appeal that had support from Honda, GM, Ford, Rivian, ChargePoint, Emporia, and the auto-industry standards organization SAE International, among others.

The person who made that public comment later said on a podcast that he had made the proposal as a joke, and he ultimately submitted a second public comment asking the code-making panel to reverse its actions."

I'd say it lasted quite long, given the lack of substantiation.
It was a nail biter over here.

 

[WD40]

Side question what is a 'SPGFCI' ? I have seen that referenced a few times and ask at my supply house and they have never herd of such a breaker.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Side question what is a 'SPGFCI' ? I have seen that referenced a few times and ask at my supply house and they have never herd of such a breaker.

It is a Special Purpose Ground Fault Interrupter. However it is not a breaker. It is a large and costly stand alone device that provides protection at 20 mA and can be used on circuits where the voltage to ground exceeds 150 volts.

 

[ActionDave]

It is a Special Purpose Ground Fault Interrupter. However it is not a breaker. It is a large and costly stand alone device that provides protection at 20 mA and can be used on circuits where the voltage to ground exceeds 150 volts.

Why this exists is so annoying to me when we already have RCD in use all over the rest of the world. (insert heavy sigh and downward facing shaking head emoticon here)

 

[hbiss]

The GFCI requirement had been written into code based on a public comment that lacked the necessary technical justification for the change. The person who made that public comment later said on a podcast that he had made the proposal as a joke...

I rest my case. We have idiots writing code.

-Hal

 

[brycenesbitt]

Why this exists is so annoying to me when we already have RCD in use all over the rest of the world. (insert heavy sigh and downward facing shaking head emoticon here)

But the RCD MCB's are widely available, low cost, made by a bunch of vendors, easy to wire, flexible and have low stand by power consumption, and feature arc chutes to contain sparks even if they trip at full load. Why would we want that commie stuff in the USA ?