Electric Glass

jbfan · Jan 28, 2021

Here are some shop notes that I was sent today concerning this glass.

Here is the complete story. We occupied the building 3 years ago. a couple weeks after we were in the building, one of the glasses started smoking and shattered. The glass was replaced and fuses were put inline. A few months later, one of the GFCI breakers went tits up. Due to the nature of the space, the powers that be decided not to power down the room to replace the breaker, so both circuits were combined, and a couple of un needed receptacles removed. Fast forward to the beginning of December, the other GFCI tripped. I reset the breaker and several days later, it tripped again. I found nothing to trip the breaker. There is nothing plugged in to the receptacles, except the two glass walls. The powers that be now decide we can kill the panel to replace the breakers. I was trying to decide with my boss if we could use non GFCI breakers. My next thought now is to add a small panel next to this one, feed it from the two breaker spots and install GFCI breakers in the sub. This allows the replacement in the future in case of another bad GFCI.

MotoGP1199 · Jan 28, 2021

I would install it with GFCI for two reasons.
1. They recommend it and if something went south that will be used against you.
2. If someone crashed into the glass and broke it I would not want them to get electrocuted while bleeding.

The odd thing about their recommendation is that they mention using the GFCI for overloads, short circuits, and ground faults. Thats what a regular breaker does for protection of the circuit.. A GFCI has the added benefit of CLASS A (5 ma) protection for people.

kb1jb1 · Jan 28, 2021

Electric glass? Is that the type that becomes opaque when closed and clear when opened. I saw bathroom stall doors that had that feature. I would hate to be in there when the circuit goes out.

jbfan · Jan 28, 2021

Yes. Power to the glass makes it opaque, and no power darkens the glass.

splatz · Jan 28, 2021

You could always use regular breakers for the circuits and feed through a box or boxes with two dead fronts in it, that's a lot less trouble than installing a subpanel.

You could also use PVC nipples to the box and wire it so you have a place to clip on a clamp meter with min/max/average and leave it in place. (Might not be entirely compliant but you can correct it later.)

jbfan · Feb 2, 2021

splatz said:
You could always use regular breakers for the circuits and feed through a box or boxes with two dead fronts in it, that's a lot less trouble than installing a subpanel.

You could also use PVC nipples to the box and wire it so you have a place to clip on a clamp meter with min/max/average and leave it in place. (Might not be entirely compliant but you can correct it later.)

It has been decide by the powers higher than me to keep the GFCI breakers. We are going to sdd the sub, and relocate the breakers to the sub. This will make it easier to replace the breakers in the future without turning all the sensitive electronics to bay sit when we turn the power off.

Thanks for the replies.

Electric Glass

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