Tap Rule question

[JoeNorm]

Can I come directly off of a main breaker of a greater amperage value than the wire is rated as long as it lands on the proper breaker downstream? In this case everything is underground.

This seems like a tap without the actual physical tap itself.

 

[wwhitney]

240.21(B) ". . . The tap shall be permitted at any point on the load side of the feeder overcurrent protective device . . ."

Here any point includes the OCPD load side terminals.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[augie47]

It is a "tap"
(I believe it was clarified in later Codes)

 

[jaggedben]

Can I come directly off of a main breaker of a greater amperage value than the wire is rated as long as it lands on the proper breaker downstream? In this case everything is underground.

This seems like a tap without the actual physical tap itself.

Yes.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Can I come directly off of a main breaker of a greater amperage value than the wire is rated as long as it lands on the proper breaker downstream? In this case everything is underground.

This seems like a tap without the actual physical tap itself.

While the language in 240.21(B) implied a connection to a feeder conductor, the definition of tap conductor has never addressed the point of connection of the tap conductor. There was never any intent to prohibit a tap from originating at the load terminals of an OCPD, but the language in 240.21(B) in the 2017 and older codes seemed to prohibit that.
The language in that section was changed in the 2020 code.