This "loophole" has been in the code forever. Word games aside, I just cannot make the case for not having an OCPD, or at least a disconnect, on a circuit. It just seems extremely obvious that you would want a way to turn things 'off.'
Everyone puts their socks on before their shoes- yet there is no law saying you must. It' just one of those 'obvious' things. I would place 'have a disconnect' in this same category. I just can't imagine not having one.
Well, that's not correct. I can imagine ... being first introduced to the trade in Chicago, it was common to have just a meter base on the outside of the house. The catch was that the wires then went into a rigid nipple, straight through the brick wall, and directly into a panel on the opposite face of the wall. Nobody could hang a picture on that unprotected bit of wire without passing through the panel itself.
The arrangement in the pictures - up the wall, across the room, down the wall- and all of it just under the drywall - just offends every instinct of mine.
I'm delighted that this thread has kicked off the discussion. Maybe it IS time for the NEC to address the issue.
