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> with a surface mount breaker panel on a large flat wooden board on
> one wall, can I run NM cable emerging from that panel along the
> surface of that board?

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>The NEC requires protection of wiring from damage in locations where
>it is at risk of being damaged. But just what constitutes such a
>risk?
>
>If I put a breaker panel in a closet dedicated to electrical wiring,

quote:

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>with a surface mount breaker panel on a large flat wooden board on
>one wall, can I run NM cable emerging from that panel along the
>surface of that board?

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>On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:38:01 -0500 The Real Tom <Tom @ www.love-calculators.com> wrote:
>| On 23 Mar 2005 18:11:07 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:
>|
>|>The NEC requires protection of wiring from damage in locations where
>|>it is at risk of being damaged. But just what constitutes such a
>|>risk?
>|>
>|>If I put a breaker panel in a closet dedicated to electrical wiring,
>|
>| Think the NEC states not to put any disconnects in a closet. Don't
>| know the actual code offhand, but i'm wondering if I understand the
>| question too. If I did, I'll get the code reference I'm thinking of.
>
>I think the idea is to not put them in a _storage_ closet. But, OK,
>I'll put it in an "electrical room". Now, how small can I make this
>"electrical room"? The NEC states a clearance required in front of
>the panel. Clearly the "electrical room" must be at least this large
>and I would presume that also means an inward swinging door must not
>intrude on this space.
>
>In another forum in the past I asked about having the panel enclosed
>in an area where there was just a few cm between the panel and the door
>to the area, but the doors were the double folding type and would swing
>well out of the way when open, leaving a fully compliant space in front
>of the panel (e.g. part of the hallway). The general concensus was
>this was OK (and one person said he has even done exactly that).
>
>Either way, if the space is reserved for nothing but electrical wiring,
>and there would be no reason to enter the space except to deal with the
>electrical wiring or panel therein, and it would otherwise be closed off,
>it would seem to me that exposed NM wiring would not be subject to casual
>damage.
>
>
>|>with a surface mount breaker panel on a large flat wooden board on
>|>one wall, can I run NM cable emerging from that panel along the
>|>surface of that board?
>|
>| To answer the running of nm anywhere, do you think it's at risk? Will
>| a inspector think it's at risk?
>|
>| If so imho, protect it.
>
>But I want to find out the various opinions on it. I don't have a
>specific AHJ to ask, because I don't know (yet) where this house will
>be built. What I want to know is the general feeling about it to
>decide how the design of this house will proceed.
>
>I do not want all the circuits coming out of the panel in one fat
>bundle of cables. But I also don't want a bunch of lame conduits (by
>that I mean it just goes a short distance, but clutters up the space
>around the panel) all over the place, either, for a few reasons. I'd
>like each cable to exit the panel principly on the sides, and then
>proceed up or down from there along the full height backboard the panel
>is on.
>
>I suppose what I could do is build a layer of stud board forward of the
>backboard, with lots of notches cut out facing the backboard to run all
>the NMs through. Then put bolts on the fronts of these studs at the
>top and bottom and cover the space between studs with clear plastic
>acrylic sheets with keyholes cut out to mate the bolts.
>
>Being able to see where a cable goes is important to me. Two or more
>cables in one conduit is bad. Too many conduits is bad. I'm NOT going
>to be building this house in Chicago or Austin, or other big cities with
>crazy building codes.