---
id:
aliases:
  - nec-215
tags:
  - authorship/other
  - destiny/uncertain
  - status/incomplete
  - topic/construction/electrical
  - type/media
title: Article 215 Feeders
---
# Article 215 Feeders

## 215.1 Scope.

This article covers the installation requirements, overcurrent protection requirements, minimum size, and ampacity of conductors for
feeders.

Exception:
Feeders for electrolytic cells as covered in 668.3(C)(1) and (C)(4).

#### 215.2 Minimum Rating and Size.

#### 215.2(A) Feeders Not More Than 1000 Volts.

#### 215.2(A)(1) General.

Feeder conductors shall have an ampacity
not less than the larger of 215.2(A)(1)(a) or (A)(1)(b)
and shall comply with 110.14(C).

* (a) Where a feeder supplies continuous loads
    or any combination of continuous and noncontinuous loads,
    the minimum feeder conductor size shall have an ampacity
    not less than the noncontinuous load plus 125 percent of the continuous load.
    
* (b) The minimum feeder conductor size
    shall have an ampacity not less than the maximum load to be served
    after the application of any adjustment or correction factors
    in accordance with
    [[nfpa-70_310_conductors_for_general_wiring#310.14 Ampacities for Conductors Rated 0 Volts – 2000 Volts.|310.14]].

Exception No. 1:
If the assembly, including the overcurrent devices protecting the feeder(s),
is listed for operation at 100 percent of its rating,
the ampacity of the feeder conductors shall be permitted to be not less
than the sum of the continuous load plus the noncontinuous load.

Exception No. 2:
Where a portion of a feeder is connected at both its supply and load ends
to separately installed pressure connections as covered in 110.14(C)(2),
it shall be permitted to have an ampacity
not less than the sum of the continuous load plus the noncontinuous load.
No portion of a feeder installed under this exception
shall extend into an enclosure containing either the feeder supply
or the feeder load terminations, as covered in 110.14(C)(1).

Exception No. 3:
Grounded conductors that are not connected to an overcurrent device
shall be permitted to be sized at 100 percent
of the continuous and noncontinuous load.

Informational Note No. 1:
See Examples D1 through D11 in Informative Annex D.

Informational Note No. 2:
Conductors for feeders, as defined in Article 100,
sized to prevent a voltage drop exceeding 3 percent
at the farthest outlet of power, heating, and lighting loads,
or combinations of such loads,
and where the maximum total voltage drop on both feeders and branch circuits
to the farthest outlet does not exceed 5 percent,
will provide reasonable efficiency of operation.

Informational Note No. 3:
See 210.19(A), Informational Note No. 4, for voltage drop for branch circuits.

#### 215.2(A)(2) Grounded Conductor.

The size of the feeder circuit grounded conductor
shall not be smaller than that required by 250.122,
except that 250.122(F) shall not apply
where grounded conductors are run in parallel.

Additional minimum sizes shall be as specified in 215.2(A)(3)
under the conditions stipulated.
