Feeder tap conductors are intended to be protected from what by the feeder OCPD, and protected from what by the OCPD where the tap conductor is terminated on its load side?

• A. All overcurrents / voltage surges
• B. Overloads / short-circuit and ground-fault conditions
• C. Short-circuit and ground-fault conditions / overloads
• D. Voltage surges / all overcurrents

Answer: (C)

The situation relies on separating protection roles for different fault types. The feeder overcurrent protection is placed to clear high-energy faults on the feeder, so it protects the feeder conductors from short-circuit and ground-fault currents. When a tap conductor is terminated on its load side, the protection there is provided by the downstream OCPD, which is sized to protect that tap from overloads and overheating.

So the feeder OCPD is responsible for short-circuit and ground-fault conditions, while the load-side OCPD protects the tap conductors from overloads. This arrangement ensures that severe faults are cleared quickly upstream, while normal or mild overcurrents on the tap are limited by the downstream protection.