electrical disconnect

kevin

we are required on oil boilers to have a shutoff swithch to kill the power on the boiler,wthin reach of the oil burner.This is so the service guy can quickly/ safely shutoff and turn on the power as he works on the burner. We also have to have a burner switch at an entrance to the house, for fire purposes. you also have to have a fireomatic cut out above the burner. It varies the distance above the burner for location as to the enforcement: some say 3 ft. others just above it.kpc

Mark J Strawcutter

location specific? oil only?

Most of the furnaces and boilers around here are natural gas. There is usually a single-pole switch in a single-gang surface-mount "handi box" up on a rafter somewhere near the unit that serves as a disconnect.

Some of the pictures I've seen posted here on the wall show a disconnect on the boiler with a red coverplate with some sort of wording.

I've also heard about having a disconnect at the top of the basement stairs.

Is this a code difference between locales? Or a special requirement for oil fired units?

What's the best way to do a disconnect?

Mark

Steamhead

As we often find out

codes vary from place to place.

Around Baltimore, oil-fired units must have a disconnect at an entrance to the mechanical room or basement, which could be an outside entrance or at the inside stairway. This is not required for gas units. All units must have a disconnect switch within sight of the boiler for servicing.

My preference is to install switches in both locations for all units. I like the ability to shut off the power without having to approach the unit.

Incidentally, I still find a lot of old disconnects with fuses in them mounted in stairways. The Dead Men used these in cases where the existing fuse panel did not have room for the oil-burner fuses. As I understand it, this arrangement no longer meets Code since all overcurrent devices (fuses or breakers) must be located where the circuit gets its supply (the panel).

Nowadays, of course, almost all of these old fuse panels have been replaced with larger circuit-breaker panels, and there is a dedicated breaker therein for the heat system.

Also, if the fuses in these old switches come loose, they can heat up and blow without tripping the breaker in the panel, causing a no-heat call. And many of these old disconnects had fuses in the neutral wire as well as the hot one. If the neutral fuse blows, but not the hot, you could end up with a major shock hazard.

Therefore, it's a good idea to replace these old fused switches with ordinary switches having red "emergency switch" plates, opening the hot wire only. When doing this, make sure the breaker in the panel is the proper size.

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billygoat22

The Hartford insur co checked one boiler we installed. they wanted a mushroom type switch- one you smacvk and it goes off. Next to the boiler was fine for them, but I wouldn't go in the room if that boiler was bad enough to need one of those panic switches.

J.C.A.

MA. code.....

Says there will be a switch to shut down a burner outside of the "burner area" . This leaves a bit of leeway as to the position of said switch .If the boiler is in its own room , outside of the room will suffice. If the boiler is in the basement, a switch mounted at the doorway to the cellar(outside the basement door) passes our tough code .

I do a fair amount of conversions and my common sense says to leave the switch outside the cellar as a safety device. Of course I change it to reflect the method of firing.....Gas vs. oil burner switch (most don't)

As a general rule, the switch should be higher than all other switches, thereby making it harder to hit by accident, than all others. Our fair state also states that the cover plate WILL be red in color.

Ma. codes are tough...but the failure rate of heating appliances is extremely low compared to most states.Ask the Dragon, he'll back me up on this ! Chris