Do You Need A Board Above A Service Panel

If this helps, I simply had my service upgraded to 200A in Lansing, Michigan. Here is a before and after photograph of a 1959 breaker console vs. a 2020 installation. The old breaker box was mounted straight to the concrete wall. For reference, this is an exterior wall built in 1911 that tends to "sweat" during periods of heavy rainfall, so some physical separation from the wall makes sense. I didn't recollect to check the back of the erstwhile panel for rust (also late now). What you can't come across hither is that at that place is a (PVC, I recall) tube that goes through the concrete to connect to the service meter, so information technology is waterproof the entire way to the meter.

I've plant some evidence that at that place is something in the Michigan Electrical Code that addresses this, just I'm not sure which role:

Dec 26, 2014 - In Michigan we have to mount panels to pressure treated lumber. Plain old plywood is no longer legal here.

And then another comment specific to painting the plywood (Ontario, Canada):

Jan 18, 2013 - Terminal time I put Fire rated plywood upwardly some fool came in and painted it.. I had to replace it.. (not allowed to exist painted and label must be visible [in Ontario anyway])

Additionally, some rationale for this alter to the Code (Pennsylvania):

Dec 27, 2014 - It may not be in the code, but in that location are decades of experience in this role of the state that tend to betoken that panels and metal conduits/boxes in contact with basement wall volition corrode and fall apart. It's not the moisture per se, simply galvanic corrosion every bit a result of the ground current in those metal objects and the steel sacrificing itself to protect the galvanized coating. Depending on the moisture levels, it can take from just a few years to a few decades, simply the stuff Volition fall off the wall at some bespeak, especially in older homes in developments where water runoff wasn't planned and high moisture is an everyday thing.

Finally, I found some direction in the Consumer's Free energy Electric Service Metering Guide (2010), which adheres to the NESC and NEC:

3.xi Interior meter boards of adequate size for the meter installation shall be furnished by the customer to provide a smoothen and dry surface for mounting the metering equipment in those cases where the client's walls or structure are not suitable for direct mounting.

3.eleven.ane Interior meter boards are to exist synthetic of ¾-inch plywood or other canonical textile, painted on both sides with good quality pigment, and mounted rigidly on the wall or structure in a true vertical position.

three.eleven.2 The location and size of the meter lath shall be such as to permit at to the lowest degree a 12-inch clear space above the meters, and all vertical conduit runs to and from the service equipment shall be kept at to the lowest degree eight inches from the sides of all meter troughs to facilitate the installation and testing of the meters.

From the above resources, the relevant codes announced to be:

• NEC 300.6 Protection against corrosion and deterioration
• IBC Section 603 Combustible Textile in Types I and Ii Structure
• IBC Table 803.11 Form B wall finishes (flame spread 75 or less) vs. Course C (flame spread 76-200, e.thousand. untreated plywood).

In my example, my electrical visitor is not Consumer'southward but another electric visitor that operates in the same region of Michigan (Lansing Lath of H2o and Lite). Plainly, the requirement for painting is specific to Consumer'south Energy'due south interpretation of the Electric Code, with the caveat that the Lawmaking in Ontario, Canada specifically disallows that.

Do You Need A Board Above A Service Panel,

Source: https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/41236/is-a-plywood-backer-required-for-all-breaker-panels

Posted by: alexanderaunce1959.blogspot.com

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