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Joined: Apr 2001
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Sparky66. I think you'reright. I've always read that to be the max height for a main in a dwelling.
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Joined: Apr 2001
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404.11 (2002 NEC)"Circuit Breakers as Switches. A hand-operable circuit breaker equipped with a lever or handle, or a power-operated circuit breaker capable of being opened by hand in the event of a power failure, shall be permitted to serve as a switch if it has the required number of poles."
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Joined: Oct 2001
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A note on SWD circuit breakers(CB). The 2002 NEC requires HID rated CB's for switching HID lighting. Since a HID CB is also rated for SWD duty, manufacturers are doing away with the SWD and only making a SWD type. I checked in a Sq D cat and there were no SWD CB's shown.
And I don't know if there is a cost difference between the two.
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Joined: Jul 2001
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Square D has never shown a seperate part number for an SWD breaker. Their 1P 15 and 20Amp breakers are footnoted as being SWD rated (see the triangle on Digest page 1-2, lower left corner). HID rated breakers are something different, but even they cannot be SWD except for 1P 15 & 20A (see the triangle on Digest page 1-3, lower left corner).
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Joined: Nov 2000
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So if the main breaker is Not SWD rated, then it can be mounted at any height? I just get more confused everyday...
-Virgil Residential/Commercial Inspector 5 Star Inspections Member IAEI
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Joined: Dec 2001
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I've always seen enforcement of that switch height provision for all main circuit breakers. I don't think there is any justification for interpreting "switch" in a technical sense equivalent to "SWD". I'm curious about what sort of circuit breaker CAN'T be used as a switch. Aren't they ALL usable as isolating switches? This discussion brings to mind another related 'hair to split': When 230.70(A)(1) talks about the service disconnection means "installed at a readily accessible location", it seems to be addressing the issue of whether the ROOM the disconnect is in is easy to get into (by qualified and responsible personnel), and not the issue of elevation. Do you all agree?
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Lets take another twist. 230.91 Install a (suitable for use as service equipment) transfer switch without overcurrent protection adjacent to the service overcurrent device in this case a main breaker inside the service equipment. Now the transfer switch is required to be mounted no higher than 6’7” and the service overcurrent device (breaker) can be mounted at any height. I agree with JBD on the intended function of the breaker. If it is used as a switch then no higher than 6’7”, if used as a service disconnect then mount it in a readily accessible location 6’7” or less above the floor or platform. But what about that overcurrent device adjacent to the service disconnect???????
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Joined: Jul 2001
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All SWD rated devices are switches but not all switches are SWD rated.
Switching is a function - in the lowest definition it is a device intended to manually open a set of conductors by use of an attached handle.
SWD rating - a UL rating only for 15 and 20Amp single pole circuit breakers that "qualify" them for use a "light switches" for fluorescent lamps.
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Joined: Dec 2001
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MVilliness, I'm wondering if the crux of our difficulty with this issue is the technically careful wording in 230.70, and Art 100, dealing with the "disconnecting means"--which includes the removable link in the neutral bus too. From a practical functional aproach, we aren't going to worry about how high the neutral bus link is. But the CB or SW definitely has to comply with 404.8(A) since we DO switch them, and so they are "switches" (regardless of power availability or circuit loading). In the situation where you are dealing with a main switch and "downstream" fuses, the fuses don't have to be <6'7", just "readily accessible"..and I haven't run into any stipulation that 6'7" is the deciding height for "readily accessible".
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Elzappr I don't know what the height should be. Some of us are "vertically challenged". Remember its not readily accesible if you have to use a ladder or something to reach it. Don(resqcapt19)
Don(resqcapt19)
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