birddogger
Electrical
- Feb 23, 2004
- 31
Before I begin, I should point out here, my firm is an real estate developer with an A/E staff. The architects produce contract drawings, while the M/E staff simply works with the architects during the D/D phase to make sure proper space is allocated for equipment, and then produces a performance spec to be issued to subcontractors on a design/build basis. We then do construction services (shop drawing review, etc.) for those same jobs.
The performance spec talks about client-specific requirements and basic construction/installation methods that our firm prefers, but in essence it just says “follow the current edition of the NEC”. The design and the liability is out of my hands, but I still need to go on record to point out any design deficiencies that I may find.
Anyway, we got some comments back from the city inspector on some plans the subcontractor did for a food processing facility. This particular area is more of an R & D division, with a lot of “laboratories” that are basically big kitchens. One of the comments he made was to circle the biggest of the three labs with the comment “all 15-20A 120V ckts to be GFI”, as required. He apparently didn’t see the key note we had in the margin indicating such. On the same page, under the keynotes, he wrote “All outlets within 6 ft. of sink to be GFI”. I assume he meant this note would apply to all areas, not just the kitchen.
My first thought was that this was a horribly outdated comment, since the code has made it clear since 1996 that all countertop/peninsula/island receptacles should be GFI, regardless of whether there is a sink installed in them or not, and that the 6 ft. rule now only applies to wet bars. But I notice now that the "all counter top receps GFI" rule specifically applies to kitchens. Article 100 specifically defines bathrooms and garages, but it does not define “kitchen”.
I fully agree with the inspector that outlets within 6 ft. of a sink should be GFI and the electrical sub will do it, so it’s not a problem on this job. But my thoughts are that anything with a sink or a spigot, or anyplace that is prone to wet floors (unfinished basements, garages, rooftops) should have general purpose GFI receptacles within 6 ft. of the water source, and I think the code should be updated to reflect that, with room types only listed as examples, instead of saying “they’re required here, here, and here, but we didn’t say you had to put them here, so that means you can”.
I will likely recommend that our master performance spec be updated to reflect this, but is there anything in the code to back me up on that regardless? Like I said, it seems to only apply to wet bars, with further restrictions for kitchens and bathrooms. Places like janitor’s closets, college chemistry labs, research labs, industrial process areas with sinks and floor drains throughout, are not specifically addressed as far as I can tell, which would indicate that someone could argue that they aren’t required there.
The performance spec talks about client-specific requirements and basic construction/installation methods that our firm prefers, but in essence it just says “follow the current edition of the NEC”. The design and the liability is out of my hands, but I still need to go on record to point out any design deficiencies that I may find.
Anyway, we got some comments back from the city inspector on some plans the subcontractor did for a food processing facility. This particular area is more of an R & D division, with a lot of “laboratories” that are basically big kitchens. One of the comments he made was to circle the biggest of the three labs with the comment “all 15-20A 120V ckts to be GFI”, as required. He apparently didn’t see the key note we had in the margin indicating such. On the same page, under the keynotes, he wrote “All outlets within 6 ft. of sink to be GFI”. I assume he meant this note would apply to all areas, not just the kitchen.
My first thought was that this was a horribly outdated comment, since the code has made it clear since 1996 that all countertop/peninsula/island receptacles should be GFI, regardless of whether there is a sink installed in them or not, and that the 6 ft. rule now only applies to wet bars. But I notice now that the "all counter top receps GFI" rule specifically applies to kitchens. Article 100 specifically defines bathrooms and garages, but it does not define “kitchen”.
I fully agree with the inspector that outlets within 6 ft. of a sink should be GFI and the electrical sub will do it, so it’s not a problem on this job. But my thoughts are that anything with a sink or a spigot, or anyplace that is prone to wet floors (unfinished basements, garages, rooftops) should have general purpose GFI receptacles within 6 ft. of the water source, and I think the code should be updated to reflect that, with room types only listed as examples, instead of saying “they’re required here, here, and here, but we didn’t say you had to put them here, so that means you can”.
I will likely recommend that our master performance spec be updated to reflect this, but is there anything in the code to back me up on that regardless? Like I said, it seems to only apply to wet bars, with further restrictions for kitchens and bathrooms. Places like janitor’s closets, college chemistry labs, research labs, industrial process areas with sinks and floor drains throughout, are not specifically addressed as far as I can tell, which would indicate that someone could argue that they aren’t required there.
