Thanks for all the quick replies.
HotLine1 (John). The size and amperage of the panel has been determined by the mobile home manufacturer and I would presume the supply authority and what size of service they are going to supply.
I understand the NEC mandate about maximum number of circuits but my client is having a tough time laying out the circuits in the mobile home. You see in Canada we have no restrictions on the number of circuits. That is, we can turn a 40 circuit 200A panel into nearly 80 circuits, the only restriction being that we need to use AFCI and GFCI breakers that take the full 1" or 2" spaces. The feeling here is that you still can't overload the panel, because you are still restricted by the amperage carrying capacity of the main device. Besides we are finding here that people are wanting separate dedicated circuits for fax machines, computers, in home offices. We have 12 poles in our panels that are dedicated and assigned for specific circuits - such as dryer, receptacle in laundry area, fridges, microwaves, washers, stoves, etc. So even a 32 circuit panel doesn't work without going to twin mounted breakers or quad type breakers.
That's the problem John, I don't have a current NEC book to reference and so I need some information regarding, I guess Art 550 as indicated by Pierre.
I thought it would be helpful to find out what specific circuits require their own dedicated breaker, see what's involved and once those are determined, then we know how many circuits we have left to do the "general wiring". As you can see from above in Canada you just keep adding breakers until you cover the circuits, with the U.S. requirements there is a little more work involved.
Bill Addiss (Bill). The number of circuits (40 and 30) are based on full size 1" wide breakers. That's what I need is the number of GFCIs, AFCIs, etc.
PCBelarge (Pierre). I guess that the word "Pony Panel" is Canadian lingo for sub panel. And you are correct that this is why my client doesn't want to use them, it adds a lot of cost to an all ready competitive product. Not just the panel but the extra feeder lengths, added breaker. This is why we don't have the same issue here. We can double up on the number of breakers. In the U.S. market you have definite restrictions.
