Fire sprinkler pipe over a doorway to enter an electrical room. I know I saw it somewhere but where?

Question

Fire sprinkler pipe over a doorway to enter an electrical room. I know I saw it somewhere but where?

(OP)

6 Jul 17 17:40

Fire sprinkler pipe over a doorway to enter an electrical room. I know I saw it somewhere but where?

I've looked in NFPA 13 (2013 edition) and I couldn't find it there. I also looked in NFPA 70, it wasn't there. Next I looked in the IBC and I couldn't find it there either.

If it is and any of those standards or code I couldn't find it but I remember reading it somewhere.

Can anyone help me out here.. where did I see this because I know I did.

cdafd (Specifier/Regulator) · Answer 1 · 2017-07-06 19:10:28

So outside the electrical room?

Just has to have required clearance per building code ?

Maybe clearance NFPA 70 (NEC) Article 110.26

This is 2000:

http://www.ecmag.com/section/requirements-electric...

Might have been a particular job with a certain requirement ?

TravisMack (Mechanical) · Answer 2 · 2017-07-06 19:12:06

I always show it entering over the door because I've yet to see them be able to put a panel at that location

Travis Mack
MFP Design, LLC
www.mfpdesign.com
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SprinklerDesigner2 (Mechanical) · Answer 3 · 2017-07-06 19:33:03

It's been so long maybe what I saw was something like this:

Quote (http://www.ecmag.com/section/requirements-electric...)

This dedicated electrical space is the equipment's footprint, starting at the top of the electrical equipment upward to a height of 6 feet.

Two additional regulations pertain to indoor dedicated equipment space (i.e., Sprinkler Protection and Suspended Ceilings). Sprinkler protection is permitted for the dedicated space where the piping complies with Section 110-26(f)(1). [110-26(f)(1)(c)] Although sprinkler pipe is not permitted within the 6 foot dedicated space directly above the electrical equipment, it is permitted above the dedicated space where properly protected.

Section (d) effectively clarifies the meaning of the term structural ceiling. In essence, it states that a dropped, suspended, or similar ceiling not adding strength to the building structure is not a structural ceiling. [110-26(f)(1)(d)] Again, dropped, suspended, or similar ceilings are not structural. In fact, any ceiling which does not lend strength to the building framework is likewise not a structural component.

Like Travis I've never passed through an electrical room I've always entered it over the center of the door because it's the one place that a panel can't be installed.

And again I don't know where I read it but I remember reading just because there was a suspended ceiling, either suspended or simply drywall attached to the bottom of wood framing, does not mean we can automatically run a pipe above the ceiling and somehow avoid the rule requiring 6 feet above the top of the equipment.

TravisMack (Mechanical) · Answer 4 · 2017-07-06 19:48:48

No.. The ceiling in that section is a structural ceiling. So, basically, the floor deck is your structural ceiling.

I have run through the rooms because there is nothing that prohibits it in an electrical room. You just can't run over panel. A transformer room is one you can not run through. However, I often avoid going through the rooms because it is less of a hassle than educating everyone that will see it and question it.

Travis Mack
MFP Design, LLC
www.mfpdesign.com
"Follow" us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/MFP-Design-LLC/9221...

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Fire sprinkler pipe over a doorway to enter an electrical room. I know I saw it somewhere but where?