New Edition of NFPA 70

The 2005 edition of NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, has been published. The new edition of this vital electrical reference document includes major changes involving:

• New and revised ground-fault circuit-interrupter (GFCI) rules
• New requirements for arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI)
• All-new Article 409 introduces rules for industrial control panels.
• All-new Article 506 presents a zone hazardous area classification system for combustible dusts and ignitible fibers and flyings.
• All-new Article 353 governs installations using HDPE conduit.
• Reorganized electrical calculation requirements in Article 220: Branch Circuit, Feeder and Service Calculations
• New requirements for identification of ungrounded branch circuit and feeder conductors

Since local and state jurisdictions may be adopting the 2005 edition of NFPA 70 prior to SpecLink’s Spring Update (March 2005), all references in SpecLink to NFPA 70 have been revised to reflect the 2005 edition. If a project should not reference the 2005 edition yet, you have two options. 1) If you routinely include the full reference citations in project specifications, the citation for NFPA 70 can be changed by making a copy of the paragraph — if you don’t include the full reference citations, the edition date does not appear in the spec. 2) If you update your office master section by section, rather than accepting all the revisions, you can skip updating the NFPA 70 citation until later.