Electric Service Panel In Attic

[bstonecipher]

I did an inspection today and the electric service panel is located in attic and the wiring entering and exiting panel is not protected by sheetrock and the incoming service wiring is wrapped in a rubber cover and ran along floor of attic to service panel. I have never seen a service panel in attic and 1. Can it be in attic, 2. Does wiring entering and exiting panel need to be protected with wall covering and 3. Are you allowed to run main service wiring on attic floor? Thanks for the input.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

That is a difficult one to answer. I need to know some things first.
Where is the main breaker that shuts the power off to the house?
Is the panel easily accessible? Such as, does the attic have a floor with steps going to the attic?
Can you step on the main entrance cables?

[bstonecipher]

The main cutoff is on outside of home, there are no stairs to attic it is a walk in and the entrance cables could be stepped on they are ran ontop of floor decking in attic.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

I would recommend removal to an accessible location but I would check with your local code authority first. Some code officals read codes in a weird way.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Originally Posted by bstonecipher

The main cutoff is on outside of home, there are no stairs to attic it is a walk in and the entrance cables could be stepped on they are ran ontop of floor decking in attic.

If the main breaker is outside, then the "main panel" is outside the home. What is in the attic is a distribution panel (sub-panel). I see sub-panels in basements, attics, crawl spaces, etc. quite often.

If the attic panel contains the majority of the circuits for the home, it's location would be a major inconvenience unless attic access is relatively easy, such as through a walk-through door.