The 2023 NEC is here, are you ready?

1. The NEC now permits the use of 10 Amp Branch circuits and 14 AWG copper-clad aluminum wire but only for certain residential applications listed in NEC 210.23.

2. 1 and 2 family Dwellings are now required to have an outdoor emergency disconnect per NEC 225.41.

3. The rules for surge protection continue to get stricter. On top of Residential Use, the 2023 NEC requires that dormitory units, guest rooms and guest suites of hotels and motels, and areas of nursing homes and limited-care facilities that are used exclusively as patient sleeping rooms have surge protection. 409.70 now requires that industrial controls be surge protected as well. It will continue to be Revivalry’s standard to protect sensitive controls with surge protection and isolated ground receptacles where deemed necessary.

4. Child proofing safety measures have also become more stringent. In NEC406.12, Tamper-Resistant Receptacles are now required in additional settings beyond residential homes. Some of these include hotel rooms, dorms, and child care facilities. NEC440.11 now requires that disconnecting means with doors that can open to expose live parts, be lockable or require tools to open them when installed in areas readily accessible to unqualified persons.

5. Kitchen GFCI Expansion: The 2020 NEC required kitchen receptacles serving countertops to have ground-fault circuit-interrupter(GFCI) protection. Section 210.8(A)(6) of the 2023 NEC was expanded to require ALL 125-to 250-volt receptacles in a kitchen to have GFCI protection. On top of that, all areas with permanent provisions for food serving, beverage service, or cooking must be ground-fault protected. This means GFCI protection is now also required in locations such as buffet serving areas and receptacles in break areas even if no sink or water source is located within 6 feet. This makes designs and installations much more expensive especially for breakers over 10,000AIC. These types of breakers are hard to get and very expensive. The best way around it is a series rating system.

6. 2023 NEC 680.5 was expanded to introduce Special Purpose Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupters(SPGFCI) to provide additional ground fault protection for pool equipment.

7. Sec.110.26(A)(4) now specifies that when open equipment doors result in an egress path that is less than 24in. wide or 6 ft, 6in. high, the opening must be increased to prevent the equipment doors from impeding the egress path. Put simply any swinging doors must be at least 2 feet from any wall, cabinet, etc. when opened at any point.

8. The 2023 NEC Sec.240.6(D) allows for remote access to adjustable-trip circuit breakers through smart devices under certain conditions. Just like you can turn on lights, security, and other systems, you can now trip and reset breakers remotely.

9. For Healthcare Facilities(Article517), the 2023 NEC has completed the phased approach of changing the references from critical, general, basic, and support spaces to Category 1, 2 ,3 , and 4 Spaces. This phased approach of aligning with NFPA99 (Health Care Facilities Code)was completed this cycle and the parenthetical references were deleted, leaving only the Category space references.

10. Some other notable changes include EV Charging Provisions (Sec.220.57), Energy Management Systems(Sec. 220.70), and Additional Temporary Power Source Requirements (Sec.700.3(F)).

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