[CTurner]

We are a church that has several ballasts that need replacing. Can our facility manager do the work or do we need a licensed electrian?

 

[jbfan]

Depends on your location and the rules of the area you live in.

 

[Stubbie]

We are a church that has several ballasts that need replacing. Can our facility manager do the work or do we need a licensed electrian?

In my experience if you have a position filled by a qualified individual for facility maintenance he would be allowed to change ballasts in a light fixture. The key here is "qualified individual". Your also going to find that locating an 'exact replacement' ballast may not be possible. By that I mean a ballast that has the exact same connections, same make etc... some electrical knowledge may be necessary in order understand the connections of a generic ballast. There will be a connection diagram on the ballast but you have to be able to understand it.

 

[RWolff]

Your also going to find that locating an 'exact replacement' ballast may not be possible. By that I mean a ballast that has the exact same connections, same make etc...

That's the problem, they have all gone to the new Chinese elctronic ballasts, and all the ones Ive seen have a different wiring method than the old.

The electronic ones have more wires and I had to cut and splice wiring to rewire every one of the 99 fixtures at work according to the different wiring diagram on the new ballasts.

 

[Oso954]

Does your facility manager know the NEC code (and year) you are on ?

For your facility, 2011 requires a disconnect to be installed when the ballast is replaced. Since the part is cheap and it adds to safety, I would have it put in regardless of the code cycle.

Electricians should catch that. Most facility managers won't.