I brought this issue up for discussion in my class ... and I noticed something strange ....
On this topic, the NEC handbook takes pains to illustrate only examples of switchgear, electric rooms, etc.
Now, I realize that this does not even imply an official code interpretation ... but I do suspect that the code committee wasn't thinking about motor starters and furnace disconnects when they wrote this section.
As the great mayor Daily said: you're supposed to print what I meant, not what I said"
