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Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Question:

Greetings CQD,

I have an overhead service drop to my house and the conductors at the weatherhead are within 15 feet of the ground. Is there a minimum height these conductors must be installed at? Does the NEC provide any requirements?

Thank you.

Barney Burns

A

Answer:

Hi Barney,

Thanks for the question. Yes both the NEC and the NESC address the minimum heights for these conductors. The NESC stands for National Electrical Safety Code and typically applies on the supply or upstream side of the service point location. We'll provide the NEC requirements which are located in Section 230.24. Based on the information in the question, the minimum height required from the bottom of the drip loop at the weatherhead shall be 10 feet in accordance with 230.24(B)(1) which indicates at the electrical service entrance to buildings, also at the lowest point of the drip loop of the building electrical entrance, and above areas or sidewalks accessible only to pedestrians, measured from final grade or other accessible surfaces only for overhead service conductors supported on and cabled together with a grounded bare messenger where the voltage does not exceed 150 volts to ground.

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CHARLIE TROUT: Charles M. Trout, better known as Charlie, was a nationally known NEC® expert and author. He served on several NEC® technical committees and is past chairman of CMP-12. In 2006 Charlie was awarded the prestigious Coggeshall Award for outstanding contributions to the electrical contracting industry, codes and standards development, and technical training. Even though Charlie passed away in October of 2015, his work continues in spirit. NECA continues to maintain this question forum for its many subscribers in memory and recognition of all his significant contributions to making the NEC what it is today.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: Unless the question requests a response based on a specific edition, all answers are based on the latest edition of NFPA 70® National Electrical Code®.

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