Paint in a panel

[Phillip]

House is 20 year old. Some where down the line the painters did not protect the panel from being painted.[:-monkeyd

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But some one took the time to show what breaker each outlet was on.

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[Erik]

Around here It is only required to replace the bus bar. Some what curious what is required in other areas?

[resqman]

IRC E3304.6 Integrity of electrical equipment. Internal parts of electrical equipment, including busbars, wiring terminals, insulators, and other surfaces, shall not be damaged or contaminated by foreign materials such as paint, plaster cleaners, or abrasives, and corrosive residues. There shall not be any damaged parts that might adversely affect safe operation or mechanical strength of the equipment such as parts that are broken; bent; cut; deteriorated by corrosion, chemical action, or overheating. Foreign debris shall be removed from equipment.

NEC 110.12 (B) Integrity of Electrical Equipment and Connections. Internal parts of electrical equipment, including busbars, wiring terminals, insulators, and other surfaces, shall not be damaged or contaminated by foreign materials such as paint, plaster, cleaners, abrasives, or corrosive residues. There shall be no damaged parts that may adversely affects safe operation or mechanical strength of the equipment such as parts that are broken; bent; cut; or deteriorated by corrosion, chemical action or overheating.

[Check Pilot]

For the life of me, Why, oh why, would someone want to paint the panel?

This had to be some HO that must have thought his buddies would like to look inside the panel board and admire the painting skills.??? Wifey wanted it to look good???? Some other reason??? Maybe this HO wears a tinfoil hat????

I rarely post comments on this forum, but this one has me just flummoxed.

[Garet]

For the life of me, Why, oh why, would someone want to paint the panel?

Because they were lazy. The panel got painted unintentionally along with the rest of the wall. The breakers themselves probably got replaced (the close-up shows thinner paint behind them) but that isn't enough. NEC clearly states bars behind the breakers (and the grounding bars) also need to be replaced.