It seems like we just started using the 2017 National Electrical Code, and now the 2020 version is available. There have been significant changes, accomplished through public comment and hard work by the Code Making Panels and others. What are some of the important changes that will affect installers, electricians, and AHJ’s? We are eager to know what has been changed. Just as importantly, when can we reasonably expect that the new version of the Code will be adopted? Each state must decide when to move to the next edition of the NEC.
Section 250.25 is brand new for the 2020 Code cycle. It has been created to establish grounding and bonding rules for add-on disconnects, such as a PV system disconnect acting as that PV system’s service equipment, when the disconnect is attached to conductors on the supply side (meaning before the main cut-off) of the utility service disconnect.
Section 230.82 provides electricians with a list of equipment/systems that can legally connect to the conductors on the supply side of an electrical system serving a home or business. The new Section 250.25 outlines grounding and bonding rules for a disconnect serving just such an add-on system.
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New for the 2017 NEC Code-cycle is section 330.15, entitled “Metal-Clad Cable: Type MC Exposed Work.” This new Code section requires an exposed run of MC Cable to closely follow the surface to which it is mounted while enjoying a new permission that allows the MC cable to be installed on the underside of floor joists.
The Isolated Ground (IG) is a type of equipment ground that, in theory, reduces interference experienced by electronics and instrumentation from radio frequency (RF) noise, by connecting that equipment directly to the grounding terminal of the service equipment, without ever making contact with another metal component or grounded surface, that could potentially be serving as an antenna for airborne RF noise.
The NEC has long regulated the required space around electrical equipment installations so that a worker who is going to examine, adjust, service, or maintain equipment that may be energized is not exposed to excessive danger from live (ungrounded) parts. The worker must have enough space available so as not to contact a surface that could effectively make his body a path to ground. In the past, equipment installations above a drop ceiling, such as small transformers, air handlers, VAV’s, and the like, have not been addressed, and the enforcement of Article 110.26 in these spaces has been difficult at best, as the space above a drop ceiling is often very crowded.
210.52(C) of the 2017 NEC lays out the requirements for kitchen countertops and the receptacles that are required to serve them. The countertop space located directly behind a range, counter-mounted cooking unit (such as a cooktop), or sink may or may not be counted as part of this measurable countertop surface when determining receptacle requirements and receptacle spacing for the countertop. It all depends on the depth of countertop surface behind that component.
For our typical AC electrical system, the purpose of the “Main Bonding Jumper” is to connect the equipment grounding conductors (E.G.C.) contained in each branch-circuit and the metal (conductive) service-disconnect enclosure to the Neutral Conductor of the electrical service. The reason for this is: a driven or buried earth ground […]
Why are you permitted to go no larger than #6 cu for the GEC attached to a driven rod or driven pipe that is being used as a grounding electrode, but you have to use Table 250.66, and all of the proposed size increases in it when using a metal water piping system in the earth, as my grounding electrode conductor?
Major changes are taking place in the world around us as mankind moves ever forward into an era where reduced energy consumption and the use of renewable energy sources are now the “norm” and no longer the exception.
As new technology becomes available, along with promises of ever-increasing returns on initial investments, many business owners and homeowners are ready to become part of the green movement. There is no question that the time is right for all of us to move forward with our green initiatives.
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