Electrical Engineering - smoke detector placement

Author

smoke detector placement

jeebs

2006-04-22, 3:21 am

smoke detector placement requirements seem to be one of the things that
varys the most between localities, but that's usually in regard to
hallways and bedrooms as far as i've seen. my question is this:

short version: do localities base their building codes on the nec or
the nfac??

long version: i was finishing a rough-in today on a house and had just
finished wiring up the smoke detectors. there was a 25' long hallway
that i placed 2 smoke detectors in on the ceiling about 5' from each
end of the hall, and 6" off the wall. shortly after our lead
electrician comes behind me and rips the boxes off the ceiling and
yelling saying "according to code smoke detectors have to be at least
12in off the wall." i told him he was full of it because the national
fire alarm code clearly states that ceiling mounted smoke detectors
must be no closer than 4in off the wall so my location was just fine.
at that point he claimed that he had failed inspections before for
mounting them less than 12in. he also yelled at me for the one that i
placed in the living room. according to the nfac wall mounted smoke
detectors must be within 12in of the ceiling but no closer than 4in. he
told me that i put it "unnecessarily high" and asked me why i didn't
mount it much lower (it was about an 18ft ceiling). he also yelled
saying that "we don't follow the nfac because we're not installing a
fair alarm system, just smoke detectors. we follow the nec." now i may
have missed a section of the nec, but the only section i can find that
pertains to smoke detectors is article 760. and in article 760 fpn no.
1 clearly says that the nec only covers the wiring and refers to the
nfac for everything else regarding them. i assume that its referring to
11.8.3 - smoke detectors and smoke alarms in the nfac.

i'm just really sick of getting chewed out for doing things that im
almost positive are correct. am i wrong here?? if anyone can give me a
definite answer i would greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!

Long Ranger

2006-04-22, 12:21 pm

"jeebs" <jmorrow@elitecarstereo.net> wrote in message
news:1145685953.775615.151470@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> smoke detector placement requirements seem to be one of the things that
> varys the most between localities, but that's usually in regard to
> hallways and bedrooms as far as i've seen. my question is this:
>
> short version: do localities base their building codes on the nec or
> the nfac??
>
> long version: i was finishing a rough-in today on a house and had just
> finished wiring up the smoke detectors. there was a 25' long hallway
> that i placed 2 smoke detectors in on the ceiling about 5' from each
> end of the hall, and 6" off the wall. shortly after our lead
> electrician comes behind me and rips the boxes off the ceiling and
> yelling saying "according to code smoke detectors have to be at least
> 12in off the wall." i told him he was full of it because the national
> fire alarm code clearly states that ceiling mounted smoke detectors
> must be no closer than 4in off the wall so my location was just fine.
> at that point he claimed that he had failed inspections before for
> mounting them less than 12in. he also yelled at me for the one that i
> placed in the living room. according to the nfac wall mounted smoke
> detectors must be within 12in of the ceiling but no closer than 4in. he
> told me that i put it "unnecessarily high" and asked me why i didn't
> mount it much lower (it was about an 18ft ceiling). he also yelled
> saying that "we don't follow the nfac because we're not installing a
> fair alarm system, just smoke detectors. we follow the nec." now i may
> have missed a section of the nec, but the only section i can find that
> pertains to smoke detectors is article 760. and in article 760 fpn no.
> 1 clearly says that the nec only covers the wiring and refers to the
> nfac for everything else regarding them. i assume that its referring to
> 11.8.3 - smoke detectors and smoke alarms in the nfac.
>
> i'm just really sick of getting chewed out for doing things that im
> almost positive are correct. am i wrong here?? if anyone can give me a
> definite answer i would greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!
>
Your lead sparky is an XXXXXXX, for starters. That being said, I see that
every local department thinks they are engineers, and have to put their own
stamp on things, much like a dog and a fire hydrant. They like to screw
around with what wiring is covered by AFCIs and GFCIs also. Here is an
example for you on local code tweaking: The town my mother lives in is about
8' below mean sea level and smack up against a river, and has flooded
before. The local code now says that all wall receptacles must be located at
least 18 inches off the floor on the ground floor of any dwelling. This is
to keep the water out of them in case it floods. Note that it is still O.K.
to put a j-box anywhere you want, and that the average house would barely
have a roof showing during a flood, even in summer months. But it gives
people "the warm fuzzies" to think about how this stuff is there to protect
them, so on it goes.

SQLit

2006-04-22, 2:21 pm

"jeebs" <jmorrow@elitecarstereo.net> wrote in message
news:1145685953.775615.151470@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> smoke detector placement requirements seem to be one of the things that
> varys the most between localities, but that's usually in regard to
> hallways and bedrooms as far as i've seen. my question is this:
>
> short version: do localities base their building codes on the nec or
> the nfac??
>
> long version: i was finishing a rough-in today on a house and had just
> finished wiring up the smoke detectors. there was a 25' long hallway
> that i placed 2 smoke detectors in on the ceiling about 5' from each
> end of the hall, and 6" off the wall. shortly after our lead
> electrician comes behind me and rips the boxes off the ceiling and
> yelling saying "according to code smoke detectors have to be at least
> 12in off the wall." i told him he was full of it because the national
> fire alarm code clearly states that ceiling mounted smoke detectors
> must be no closer than 4in off the wall so my location was just fine.
> at that point he claimed that he had failed inspections before for
> mounting them less than 12in. he also yelled at me for the one that i
> placed in the living room. according to the nfac wall mounted smoke
> detectors must be within 12in of the ceiling but no closer than 4in. he
> told me that i put it "unnecessarily high" and asked me why i didn't
> mount it much lower (it was about an 18ft ceiling). he also yelled
> saying that "we don't follow the nfac because we're not installing a
> fair alarm system, just smoke detectors. we follow the nec." now i may
> have missed a section of the nec, but the only section i can find that
> pertains to smoke detectors is article 760. and in article 760 fpn no.
> 1 clearly says that the nec only covers the wiring and refers to the
> nfac for everything else regarding them. i assume that its referring to
> 11.8.3 - smoke detectors and smoke alarms in the nfac.
>
> i'm just really sick of getting chewed out for doing things that im
> almost positive are correct. am i wrong here?? if anyone can give me a
> definite answer i would greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!
>

Different types of detectors need to be installed in differing locations.
ION type do poorly near vents or returns. HEAT type, higher the better.

Have you ever read the directions for the units your installing?

Ya I agree with the other poster, lead sparky is an XXX. Showing someone
how and why, is preferred to yelling and correcting.

ehsjr

2006-04-23, 3:21 am

jeebs wrote:
>
> i'm just really sick of getting chewed out for doing things that im
> almost positive are correct. am i wrong here??

Yes. Forget the technical right/wrong issue. The "wrong" is
that you aren't making your supervisor (acting supervisor?)
happy with the work you are doing. You're stuck with dealing
with him - you need to figure out how.

Ed

if anyone can give me a
> definite answer i would greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance!
>

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