Fire Alarm Panel Location in New York City

[mvsubstation]

I have been told by a contractor that the fire alarm control panel cannot be located inside the main electric room, therefore he wants to move it to a nearby storage room. I cannot find anywhere in the NYC building code that this is true. Does anyone know if what the contractor says is correct?

 

[vzeos]

mvsubstation,
I’ve worked on two projects in NYC that required fire control panels. In one job the panel was placed in the plant control room and in the other job the panel was placed in the computer equipment room. I don’t know if the code says explicitly where the panel should go, but the NYCBC leaves much to the discretion of the fire commissioner when it comes to larger projects such as oil farms, process plants and perhaps, substations. I would imagine the location of your fire panel should have been indicated on your permit application drawings and the FDNY would have commented on it in their approval/objection letter.

 

[mvsubstation]

You're right, we did have to submit the fire alarm plans to the New York City Building Dept./FDNY for their review. They did not comment on the location as being a problem for their review, so it should be okay where it was shown, inside the main electric room.

 

[grush]

You can locate the FACP wherever you like. I put them in EC's all the time. It makes it easier when they are in an EC; you don't have to worry about your fused cut out being in another location. The code saya nothing about location of the FACP. What type of contractor is telling you this - is he a GC or an EC? They, the FDNY, will let you know at the time of inspection of all the deffects. If the location is not suitable, that will be one of the items on the punch list.