The house was built in 2007. My previous house had the entrance panel outside, on the front porch, which was on the opposite side of the garage from the service entrance. That house was built in '86.
Not exclusive to closets, however. :-)
Absolutely, but closets are an easy thing to get in the NEC to avoid or at least partially eliminate the possibility of some flammable materials in the area.
My buddy built a Post & Beam house a few years ago. He put in a sunken dining room, a few steps lower than the kitchen.
Going around the room, counter clockwise, one "wall" was the back of the cabinets under the kitchen counter, the next wall was a finished exterior wall, the next was floor to ceiling windows, and the last wall...well, there wasn't a last wall, it was open to the living room. A beautiful fan & light hung from the ceiling.
He had put receptacles in the "kitchen" wall and the finished exterior wall, but hadn't gotten around to boreing out the beam under the windows for any receptacles on that wall. His construction loan was running out and he had to get an electrical inspection before he could transition to a regular mortgage.
So he's standing in the kitchen with the inspector, blueprints on the counter, looking down over the dining room. The inspector says "That's the dining room. You need receptacles every six feet. There are no receptacles under the windows. What's up?" My buddy says, in all seriousness, "Oh, we changed the layout. That's a closet."
The inspector says "Well, you don't need receptacles every six feet in a closet. You're all set."
Yes, particularly with older-style coverless breaker boxes[*]. An overcurrent condition may cause sparking, which with clothing'**] nearby; fire.
[*] The push type with the on/off window, in particular; I forget the manufacturer. [**] I suppose if all you wear is wool, then the fire hazard is less, since it is quite difficult to set wool afire. Fleece, on the other hand, "whoosh".I did the following to mine:
(1) Double the number of 120 outlets (2) use quad outlet boxes at 120 locations (dahikt) (3) Put ALL electrical in conduit on outside of walls.
The reason for the external wiring is that every shop tends to get moved around from time to time and you can move stuff MUCH easier with it in conduit.
Bill wrote:
Common sense quite often dictates what passes and what doesn't ... a recessed light in an 8' ceiling above a shower will fail in most locales, on a 9' ceiling above a shower and it will pass, but be prepared to prove it to each and every inspector.
Then again you can get away with a lot when an inspector can't read a set of plans, particularly an electrical plan ... almost always have to correct some inspectors when it comes to "dead" three way switches, particularly when they operate lights on different floors ... like with balcony and porch lights. :)
One of my favorites is municipalities that dictate where HVAC returns can be. Some Z&P boards don't want old folks standing on chairs to change an AC filter, so specify they can be a maximum of 48" above a floor or landing. Others are perfectly happy if you put it on a 10' ceiling ... although the owners may then finally appreciate just how farking stupid your architect is. :)
re: "use quad outlet boxes at 120 locations"
480 outlets? Yeah, that oughta be enough for most shops. ;-)
You can even move the conduit, with receptacles still wired, from shop to shop ... DAMHIKT. :)
Imagine clothes draped over a fuse box where a fuse has been screwed in on top of a penny, with the overload that kept blowing the fuse uncorrected.
>
Isn't that covered by handymen doing what they shouldn't?
I can't see a problem with a properly operated code compliant panel, not that I would store clothes, chemicals etc, near my panel anyway.
I don't see that as exclusive to a laundry room.
Does the NEC really cover every dumba$$ action by every brainless idiot on earth. It would have to be the size of an encyclopedia, wouldn't it?
So the operative words here are "in front". As I understand you, the statement doesn't refer to what's inside the wall at all, huh? Thank you very much!
Bill
LOL ... damn close.
Fact is, Mike ... it's a good thing. Residential electrical codes have saved many a catastrophe since being implemented.
If you think about how deadly electricity can be, and how close the business end is to you on a daily basis, be thankful it is as comprehensive as it tries to be.
There are enough crooks and fly-by-nights in this business that will leave your butt in danger in a heartbeat that you need every advantage you can garner from the getgo ... .. the average person does not have a clue.
When I get a few minutes, I'll reply and tell the story of how I discovered that the previous owner of my home was trying to burn it down and collect the insurance.
re: "Common sense quite often dictates what passes and what doesn't"
I think in this case the inspector let it slide because my friend was meticulous in just about every detail of the build, from the 12V elevator he installed to bring his firewood up from the basement, to the "whole house fan" he installed in the basement to draw warm air from the top of the house, down around the double-walled center column so it was deposited into the sand mass under the slab, where it would then flow back up through the black plastic pipes than ran to the vents on the first floor.
I'm guessing that a missing receptacle or 2 in the dining room didn't bother the inspector too much.
A s**tload of combustible material if anything goes wrong.
Push-Matic. Those are weird breakers -- little square things.
That's correct, it does not.
------------------------------------ "Sw> LOL ... damn close.
=============================== To really appreciate the NEC, you have to understand where it comes from.
It was developed and is administered by the NFPA for the sole purpose of minimizing building fire potential.
It was never intended to protect utilization equipment, but rather the distribution system as it relates to fire prevention of structures.
Lew
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