Can you answer this?

[etown]

IBC specifically mentions "Emergency Lighting" in 1006. If the IBC requires fire alarm panels to be connected to the emergency system for high-rise only, then they are NOT REQUIRED in other locations.

Would c) fire alarm panels be the answer if the building they were installed in was a one-story office building? I think not.

In addition, NFPA 72 allows the fire alarm panel to be connected to the "legally required standby system" instead of the "emergency system."

Yes, 1006.4 specifically mentions "emergency lighting" and section 1006 covers "Means of Egress Illumination". Therefor, it is emergency lighting for egress illumination.

Emergency lighting is to bird, as egress lighting is to sparrow. Is a sparrow a bird? Yes. Are all birds sparrows? No.

Re-read the test question...."What is not required to be on an emergency system?" Well, a fire alarm system IS required to be on an emergency system if its a high rise. The question is broad and doesn't apply to a specific occupancy or building type.

 

[david luchini]

Yes, 1006.4 specifically mentions "emergency lighting" and section 1006 covers "Means of Egress Illumination". Therefor, it is emergency lighting for egress illumination.

Emergency lighting is to bird, as egress lighting is to sparrow. Is a sparrow a bird? Yes. Are all birds sparrows? No.

Re-read the test question...."What is not required to be on an emergency system?" Well, a fire alarm system IS required to be on an emergency system if its a high rise. The question is broad and doesn't apply to a specific occupancy or building type.

How can emergency lighting NOT be on an emergency system? Doesn't make sense.

By your reasoning, you could argue that the egress illumination isn't required to be on the emergency system. In fact, IBC 1006.3 says the egress illumination shall normally be provided by the premise electrical supply. The egress illumination shall provide not less than 1 fc at the floor level. The "emergency" illumination of the egress is required to be not less than 0.1 fc (with an average of 1fc) at floor level. So "egress lighting" refers to MORE lighting than "emergency lighting." And only emergency lighting is required to be on the emergency system, while egress lighting is only required to be on the premise wiring system. I could agree with that logic.

Maybe the Exit Signs are another clue, as they are not "required" to be connected to any wiring source (at least by the IBC.) They can be either internally or externally illuminated.

 

[david luchini]

Looking at the question strictly from the NEC (instead of various building codes) however, I think the answer would still be Fire alarm panels. I don't find anything in the NEC that requires fire alarm panels to be connected to the emergency system, but under health care facilities, Illumination of the Means of Egress, Exit Signs, and Communications Systems shall be connected to the Life Safety Branch of the Emergency System, and additional illumination related to patient care should be connected to the Critical Branch of the Emergency System, such as in ERs and ICU's. I'd consider these as emergency lights.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Fire alarm panels/power extenders, elevator emergency phones/lights have battery backup.

 

[charlie b]

How can emergency lighting NOT be on an emergency system? Doesn't make sense.

If you use unit equipment (i.e., battery backed up at each light fixture), the the light is not part of the "emergency system."

 

[charlie b]

What is not required to be on an emergency system?

My problem with the question is that it is worded in the passive voice. By that I mean that the words, "is not required" lead me to wonder, "required by whom, or by what"? If the test question's author is asking about what the NEC requires, I might give one answer. If the intent is to ask about what the building codes require, I might give a different answer.

 

[roger]

Looking at the question strictly from the NEC (instead of various building codes) however, I think the answer would still be Fire alarm panels. I don't find anything in the NEC that requires fire alarm panels to be connected to the emergency system, but under health care facilities, Illumination of the Means of Egress, Exit Signs, and Communications Systems shall be connected to the Life Safety Branch of the Emergency System, and additional illumination related to patient care should be connected to the Critical Branch of the Emergency System, such as in ERs and ICU's. I'd consider these as emergency lights.

David, F/A systems are required to be on the Emergency System in Healthcare Facilities

517.32(C)(1)

(C) Alarm and Alerting Systems Alarm and alerting systems including the following:

(1) Fire alarms

So in Healthcare facilities all of the choices in the question are required to be on the Emergency System.

Roger

 

[david luchini]

If you use unit equipment (i.e., battery backed up at each light fixture), the the light is not part of the "emergency system."

Charlie, I'd have to disagree. Section 700 says emergency illumination shall include all required means of egress lighting, illuminated exit signs, etc. and under 700.12 "Sources of Power," you will find "Unit Equipment" consisting of a rechargeable battery, a battery charging means, provisions for one or more lamps mounted on the equipment, or terminals for remote lamps...

So unit equipment is still part of the "emergency system."

 

[david luchini]

David, F/A systems are required to be on the Emergency System in Healthcare Facilities

517.32(C)(1)



So in Healthcare facilities all of the choices in the question are required to be on the Emergency System.

Roger

Roger, thanks. You are right. I read that section 3 times and missed fire alarm. I'd go back to Exit Signs, as I suggested earlier. 700.16 says emergency illumination shall include egress lighting, ILLUMINATED EXIT SIGNS and all other lights specified as necessary to provide required illumination. Although 517.32(B) says Exit Signs shall be part of the Life Safety Branch, the fpn mentions NFPA 101, Section 7.10. That section also mentions internally and externally illuminated exit signs.

So if you have an exit sign which is externally illuminated, I'd say it would not be connected to the emergency system (though it's source of external illumination would have to be.)

 

[charlie b]

Charlie, I'd have to disagree.

Feel free, anytime.

So unit equipment is still part of the "emergency system."

That wasn't the question. The question was asking what had to be, and didn't have to be, "on" the emergency system. I read that as asking about what had to get its power from the designated emergency power source. The egress lights don't have to get power from that source.

 

[david luchini]

That wasn't the question. The question was asking what had to be, and didn't have to be, "on" the emergency system. I read that as asking about what had to get its power from the designated emergency power source. The egress lights don't have to get power from that source.

No, the question was which of the multiple choice answers is not required to be on AN emergency system. Not from a designated emergency power source, but from AN emergency system.

Emergency lights are required to be on AN emergency system. I'd have to agree with you that the question is poorly worded. None of the answers seem correct.