seperate section for control and power

Dear,

I am reviewing a control panel serving chlorination system, this control panel contains contactor and breakers feeding motors (booster pumps and sample pumps) in the range of 2 KW.
And also this control panel contains PLC and I/O modules and terminals connected to sensors.

Do you believe that this panel require two sections, one having control devices and corresponding wiring and other section having electrical devices and corresponding wiring.

Is there any standard reference that I can follow to convince the contractor to do this change if it is required?

thank you for any feedback,

Charbel

As a supplier it is always better for you to state clearly what your separation requirements are in advance. It also depends what standards you have stipulated e.g. BS EN 60204 where the requirements are minimal such as ensuring insulation is sufficient and there is no effect on functionality. Pretty much every customer we've had wants more than this but will have to tell us in advance.

I consider it good practice to separate power and control, and would generally use separate panels for each. Some of the new arc flash standards encourage this practice as well. However, I don't know if they are applicable in Lebanon.

Unless there is an applicable national code or you specified separation in the documents the contractor bid against it seems to me you may have to issue a change order and pay an increase in price to get what you want.

In the U.S. there is nothing code wise thats says you must do this but it's a good industry practice as it prevents your service people from having to put on the moon suit just to replace a bad output card or add a new sensor input,etc.

As Tom said this is normally done using 2 panels but if it's a small amout of controls and you are low on floor space real estate a single multi door panel can be used and a partition can be placed inside to have for example on a 4 door panel 2 high voltage doors and 2 low voltage.

Multiple disconnects and interlocks can be employed to assist with this also.