Howdy all. I did 24 years with Nevada Bell now SBC. I now work for a small independent. My boss hates all things Bell so he and I are having a dispute on the subject of where the telephone protector or SNI or NID whatever you want to call it must be mounted on a residence . He insists that code requires that it be a minimum of four feet from the power panel . I have never heard of such a requirement. I not only need affirmation that one of us is nuts I also need where to find documentation. I have searched the N.E.C section 250 and can find nothing. THanks in advance for your help.

I would think his impression comes from seeing
both electric and phone coming off the pole
and terminating in the same place on a residence.

If you take a poll while driving you will see
them in every direction.

There's no formal (code) location requirement except that no more than 50 feet of unprotected cable may extend inside the building.

It is most convenient to obtain a good ground near the electric service. Since telco and electrical ground conductors must be bonded together (this IS a code requirment), common sense would dictate that they should be adjacent to each other. While a NID/protector can be installed anywhere on/in the building, a bonding wire would still have to be run to the electric service in order to be a "legal" installation.

Utility companies frequently use "joint" trenching on underground installations, resulting in the NID/protector being in the same area as the electric meter. Still, this isn't always the case. For aerial installations, the sky's the limit; I have seen NID's installed on window sills on the second floor!

For aerial installations, the sky's the limit; I have seen NID's installed on window sills on the second floor!

Yeah so have I and they are absolutely useless as a protector. Where the hell do you ground it?

I have searched the N.E.C section 250 and can find nothing.

Try article 800. 250 as well as just about everything before 800 has nothing to do with communications unless you are specifically referred there. So for communications the NEC starts at 800.

-Hal

I have only seen this done in Washington, DC installations. Verizon doesn't consider outside plant in the downtown area to be exposed (to lightning), so they don't use protectors there.

Even large feeder cables are just punched down on 66 blocks in office buildings; no protection at all.

NEC stipulates that any outdoor wiring that extends more than one city block be protected. Since Verizon is a utility, they are exempt from having to follow the NEC. They are also exempt from parking restrictions or so it seems!

There is a electrical code for outdoor service equipment. Which is any electrical meter and panel coming off that meter. NEC 110.26(A)& 110.26(F). The open zone around service equipment must have 6.6 feet head room, 3 foot in depth and 30 inches or width of equipment from side to side. So all you need to be safe is 30 inches.

That also appies to panels on the inside of a building or residence.

EV is right, the telephone and electric must be bonded in regards to ground. Standards require that any outside cable that extends beyond the shadow of protection (imagine a shadow being cast at a 45 degrees from top edge of buliding). When I was doing I&R we could put the interface anywhere as long the grounding requirements are met.

Man I'll get this right yet. Ed, this probably has to do with the part of the NEC on protection in areas of tall buildings. They claim if the buildings are x amount of feet above the cable you don't have to protect, because lighting will strike the building, not the cable. This is what I like about the NEC, you can read about anything you want into it, or find a section to contradict
another. I'm sure Verizon and the others know how to do that very well $$$$.

Sageair-- Let me know what your boss says, when you tell him the minimum distance to mount anything by a service meter or panel is 30 inches, not 4 feet.

Since Verizon is a utility, they are exempt from having to follow the NEC...

The NEC does not cover outside plant but it certainly applies once the cable enters a building.

Building entrance protection must be installed in all circumstances where their cable enters a building. The fact that they don't get installed is only because they didn't get caught. Believe me, they know what the code is and they know how to do it right. They are just lazy and cut corners when they know no one will care.

Electrical inspectors ignore it because they are there to look at other work. If it isn't on their inspection application they won't look at it.

The times where I have been involved with the LEC installing their terminals I always was there and made sure they were protected and properly grounded. Never got an argument either.

-Hal

No, Hal.....Electrical inspectors don't know what they are looking at when it comes to telecommunications cables except when they are in ceilings. Around here, that's all that ever gets inspected, ceilings and firewall/floor penetrations. The inspectors don't know a protector from a projector!

This applies to access to the equipment, not to the mounting of equipment on the wall adjacent to the equipment.

This basicly says that the area in front of service equipment must be at least 30" wide (or width of equipment if more than 30" wide), 36" from FRONT of equipment to nearest obstruction, and 6.5' high.

110.26(f) defines the dedicated equipment space, basicly saying that you can't mount non-electrical items above panels below the 6' level or structural ceiling, whichever is less, with the exception allowing for false ceilings within that space. This extends the virtual width and depth of the equipment up to the 6' level.