Letters: Reader Feedback
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 11/1/2005
In your Codes and Standards story "New NEC Could Change Emergency Power Distribution System Design" (CSE 8/05, p.21), you neglected to mention a section 700 paragraph that is certain to have a significant impact on the design of emergency feeders.
700.9(D)(1), for buildings that exceed 75 ft. in height and places of assembly of 1,000 persons or more, requires that emergency feeders be in spaces or areas that are protected by an approved automatic fire suppression system. Comments in the handbook distinguish this change from 2002: Previously, it required wiring to be in buildings that were fully protected by an approved automatic fire suppression system. However, such buildings may have spaces, such as a space above a suspended ceiling, that are not fully protected by the suppression system. The revised wording clarifies that the wiring must be in a space that is protected by the automatic suppression system.
BARRY O'CONNELL P.ENG., TYCO THERMAL CONTROLS
