Electric Panel in Fire Riser Room 1

[Golestan]

On a small project, the Architect wants to put the house panel and it's 15 KVA transformer on the wall in a small 6.5 by 15 ft. fire riser room. It is a tight spot considering the fire sprinkler riser piping and fire alram equipment.
What are the governing codes for stuff in fire riser rooms? Are there any restrictions from NEC?
Thanks,

 

[rbulsara]

Where is your electrical counter part? Does this meet clearances required by NEC?

 

[Golestan]

Hi rbulsara,
You are replying to my post with two questions...instead of answers
What are the NEC clearances? That is part of my question also.
regards

 

[BJC]

Do you know the local officials in jurisdiction where the building is being built? If not you should at least have their phone number. Most jurisdictions have a fire marshall, a good source to know.
The only electrical equipment you can put in the Fire riser room is a light.

 

[EEJaime]

Depending on the system voltages, the clearance requirements vary slightly. Since you mention a "house" panel, I'll assume this supplies lighting and receptacle loads at some common system voltage of perhaps, 208Y/120 Volt,3 phase, 4 wire. If this is the case the system is below 300 volts to ground, NEC requires 3 ft. clear in front of the panel for access and maintenance. This 3' is a minimum of 30" wide x 6'-6" in height. This depth of clearances will change for higher voltage systems depanding on what the material is that faces it.

Code also requires that the footprint of the panel, (20"w x 6"d?) be clear from floor to structure above and below the panel for conduit access. The same clearances are required at the access sides of the transformer-however this small of a unit would be allowed to be mounted above or below the branch circuit panel as long as it did not extend more than 6" in front of the face of the panel. No piping, ductwork or other equipment/systems can be within these zones.

This is true for "small" equipment. You should be aware that if the equipment is larger, (6'wide or 1200 Amps in rating), additional access, entry and exit requirements apply.

As always, electrical equipment should be located as far from any potential water sources, leaks, valves etc..., as is practicable, but this is just good practice, not a specific code issue.

 

[Senselessticker]

My "hunch" is there are no NEC violations assuming you keep the min. clearances around electrical equipment.

However, I'm not a sprinkler system designer so ther may be some NFPA issues I don't know about.

 

[rbulsara]

Golestan:

You did not provide sufficient data to give you a meaningful answer. As you can see from other posts, most are just conjectures. You still need answers to my questions before anyone can be of any help to you.

You need to review NEC codes to determine vailidity of your situation.