Conduit through attic vent

Lefty Wright

Re: Conduit through attic vent

Yes. But when you read 690.31(E) it ends with language that refers back to satisfying the requirements of 690.14. This requires disconnects at the point of penetration.

The exception (690.31) referes to installing DC and AC disconnects for a grid tie inverter located under PV panels and inaccessible without removing a panel.

Then again, I can't claim infalibility when interpreting the code.

n3qik

Re: Conduit through attic vent

A little off topic, but close. By what is stated here, the AC mains in my area do not meet NEC. Our mains go to the meter then go into the house to the breaker panel. The wire is not in and conduit at all. Or does the meter count as a disconnect.

Also so more information, found out from a co-worker who is a volunteer fire fighter. They are NOT allow to pull any disconnects, this is to be done by the power company only. With that, some fire fighters have since gotten electrocuted in the last couple of fires we had here.

icarus

Re: Conduit through attic vent

I've seen ~100 amp service entrances come through the meter, into the building using a romex type cable. I have never seen that type cable in the supply house. I always wondered how they got away with it, and I always assumed that since the Utility approved, perhaps it was a utility supplied install.

Tony

Lefty Wright

Re: Conduit through attic vent

That would be type SE or service entrance cable, Tony. It comes in the larger sizes.

Modern meter panels have a disconnect but yes, older installations often did not and some ran SE cable to the panel without a disconnect.

My county was on the 1898 code until recently (that may be an exaggeration) and many homes 20 years old or older have romex branch circuits run on the exterior of the house!

But things have changed. A guy in my neighborhood is trying to get his new off grid house finaled and the county made him have his 10 X 10 foot shed engineered because it houses his batteries and inverter. It cost him $900 for the engineering.

If there were no electrical devices in the shed he wouldn't have even needed a permit for it.

Things change.

icarus

Re: Conduit through attic vent

Lefty,

Now that you jog my memory,, I do remember SE cable! It has been a day or two since I worked in the trades in the field.

Tony

sub3marathonman

Re: Conduit through attic vent

Lefty Wright wrote: »

Yes. But when you read 690.31(E) it ends with language that refers back to satisfying the requirements of 690.14. This requires disconnects at the point of penetration.

The exception (690.31) referes to installing DC and AC disconnects for a grid tie inverter located under PV panels and inaccessible without removing a panel.

Then again, I can't claim infalibility when interpreting the code.

Of course, I don't claim infalibility about the code either. But John Wiles should be a pretty good authority. Here is a quote from http://www.iaei.org/subscriber/magazine/05_b/wiles.htm

PV Source and Output Conductors Allowed Inside the Building
Section 690.14 generally requires that PV source and output conductors remain outside a building until they reach a readily accessible disconnect at the point of first penetration. Section 690.31(E) now permits conductors from the PV array on the roof of a building to be run inside the building before reaching the first readily accessible disconnect if those conductors are installed in metallic raceways. Metallic raceways would include the various types of rigid metal conduit and flexible metal conduits. Non-metallic raceways (PVC) are not allowed by this provision because they do not provide the physical protection, fire containment or ground-fault detection afforded by metallic raceways. Now, the PV installer can legally hide the conductors from the roof inside the building without running unsightly conduits down the outside of the structure as was required in the 2002 Code. While Section 690.14(A and read the same in the 2005 NEC as they did in the 2002 Code, an exception addressing 690.31(E) has been added to 690.14(C)(1) to address the allowance for metallic raceways inside the building. If metallic raceways are not used, then the PV source and output circuits must remain outside the building until they reach the readily accessible disconnect at the point of first penetration.