Rackstamp, data center labeling field guide

WORKSHEET 33 / Power & safety

Busway tap-off identification register

Identify the run, the tap position, and the box as three separate things, so the record survives the day somebody slides the box down the busway.

Download workbook ↓Read the guide

The download includes all 33 worksheets. Open the 33 Busway tap-offs tab.

Use it with your own records.

  1. Download the workbook and open 33 Busway tap-offs.
  2. Enter your site and room scope and the project or policy reference.
  3. Use the blank amber table for actual records. The fictional example below it is a reference.
  4. Insert table rows when needed. Keep identifiers as text, including leading zeros.
  5. Follow guide 33 to complete the checks and record unresolved items.

Before you start

  1. Settle in writing whether tap-off boxes are assets in your register or components of the run, because that decision changes every identifier in the survey and rooms that never make it end up running both conventions at once.
  2. Name the accountable owner for the busway system before the walk. Busway is frequently installed under a different scope of work than the panelboards it parallels, so an unnamed owner is a common and reportable finding in its own right.
  3. Collect the busway layout drawing at its current revision and the distribution record that says which equipment each position feeds, so the record rather than the label is the authority during the walk.
  4. Agree the reading position the survey will use for legibility, because a marking readable from a lift and a marking readable from the aisle floor are different observations.

Complete the register

  1. Enter one row per tap position in order from the feed end, including positions with no box, so the register describes the run rather than only the hardware presently hanging on it.
  2. Record the box identifier separately from the observed label text; a box whose only marking names a rack has an observed label and no identifier, and those are two different columns.
  3. Copy the rating exactly as the manufacturer marked it. Do not convert it, infer it from a neighbouring box, or complete it from the drawing.
  4. Take the fed equipment from the distribution record rather than from the label, and record the disagreement as a finding when the two differ.
  5. Photograph each position from the agreed reading position, so legibility is evidenced rather than asserted.

Walk through the example

Run BW-A-H1-02, position 12, feed designation A, box carrying the single marking R014 and a manufacturer rating of 60 A 3P.,The distribution record shows position 12 feeding DC01-H1-R021 and holds no entry for R014, which was decommissioned the previous quarter.,Three rows of findings result: the box carries no identifier of its own, the observed label names equipment that no longer exists, and position 12 carries no position marking, so the record cannot be verified from the field in either direction.,The reviewer issues no label. The register goes to electrical facilities with a photograph taken from the aisle floor and the date. Every identifier here is fictional.

Handle common exceptions

Review and close

  1. Route every finding to the named owner with the run, position, observed wording, rating, record reference, photograph, and date, and keep it open until the owner accepts a disposition.
  2. Leave the physical label in place until a correction is authorized. Removing a stale identifier leaves the position with no identification at all.
  3. Where a relocation is discovered with no change record behind it, raise that separately and treat it as the more significant finding, because the room and the distribution record have diverged without anyone noticing.
  4. Close a position only when the register, the distribution record, and the field agree, or when the owner has accepted a documented exception.

Fields and filled example

Fictional values only. Scope: DC01 / H1 unless another location is shown. The downloadable register is blank for your actual observations.

FieldWhat to recordFictional example
Busway runIdentifier marked on the busway housing for this run.BW-A-H1-02
Tap positionFixed ordinal position on the run, counted from the feed end. Recorded whether or not a box is present.POS-12
Feed designationWhich side of the redundant pair this run is, as marked in the field.A
Tap-off box IDThe box's own identifier, independent of its position and of what it feeds. Blank where the box carries none.Not marked
Rating as markedRating exactly as marked by the manufacturer. Not converted, inferred, or completed from a similar box.60 A 3P
Observed label textIdentification wording visible on the box, copied exactly, including wording believed to be wrong.R014
Fed equipment per recordWhat the distribution record says this position feeds. Taken from the record, never from the label.DC01-H1-R021
Reading positionWhere the observer stood to read the marking, because legibility depends on it.Aisle floor, row C
FindingWhat did not reconcile: missing box ID, missing position marking, label and record disagree, obscured factory marking, or none.No box identifier; label names a decommissioned rack; position unmarked
Owner and dispositionNamed accountable owner and the recorded outcome. Left open until the owner accepts it.Example electrical facilities team; open
33 Busway tap-offs workbook preview
33 Busway tap-offs workbook preview. View full size ↗

Sources and scope