# Panel Clearances



## calimurray (Apr 29, 2007)

Does anyone know what the minimum clearance from power panel to the water main is? I was reading article 
110 -26 (1)(b) about Foreign systems , which I don't quite understand or cant find a clearance requirement from a water main!


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## Stickboy1375 (Jul 23, 2007)

calimurray said:


> Does anyone know what the minimum clearance from power panel to the water main is? I was reading article
> 110 -26 (1)(b) about Foreign systems , which I don't quite understand or cant find a clearance requirement from a water main!



Its all about distance,


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## Adam12 (May 28, 2008)

Nice Stickboy! I've got Mike Holts book too.


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## calimurray (Apr 29, 2007)

Hey where can I get a copy of that book!


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## raider1 (Jan 22, 2007)

calimurray said:


> Hey where can I get a copy of that book!


You can go HERE to Mike Holt's website.

Chris


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## blackhat 321 (Aug 2, 2008)

*Calimurray*

Good Question!

I read in the 99 ,110-26 1,b "This zone shall extend from the top of the electrical equipment to the structural ceiling" So you could assume if the main is not in this zone your good. Watch out for couplings in water pipes
directly over your stuff.

What did the inspector say?


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## Skyline Electric (Jul 30, 2008)

None of those clearances are required if you turn off the electrical supply to the panel before working on the exposed parts.


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## Stickboy1375 (Jul 23, 2007)

Skyline Electric said:


> None of those clearances are required if you turn off the electrical supply to the panel before working on the exposed parts.



Pretty hard to test for proper voltage without the power on eh?


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## calimurray (Apr 29, 2007)

It was the GC who yelled at us cause he assumed we were to close to the water main. But according to the code it wouldn't matter if we moved the panel 3 inches closer to the w.m. we would still have a 30 inch clearance.


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## itsunclebill (Jan 16, 2007)

_None of those clearances are required if you turn off the electrical supply to the panel before working on the exposed parts._

I think you need to read a little bit more. 110.26 (3)(B) says that the clear working space required can't be used for storage. 110.26 (F)(1) also requires that electrical equipment have a "dedicated space"

The verbage concerning the clearances for live parts is only to define whether the required space is from the front of a covered enclosure/panel or the exposed live parts inside once a cover is removed. The requirement for the clear space doesn't go away just because you kill the power to the panel (or whatever)


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## Skyline Electric (Jul 30, 2008)

Yet clearances are required from "Exposed Live Parts". I only brought this up because it is one of my favorite ambiguous NEC code sections, of which there are many.


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