IBC 907.5.2.3.4

[shortcircuit1]

Hello,

Hope y'all are staying safe. I wasn't sure where to post this question and figured this thread would probably be the best option. I am looking at 2012 IBC 907.5.2.3.4 which says that

[F] 907.5.2.3.4 Group R-2. In Group R-2 occupancies required by Section 907 to have a fire alarm system, all dwelling units and sleeping units shall be provided with the capability to support visible alarm notification appliances in accordance with Chapter 10 of ICC A117.1. Such capability shall be permitted to include the potential for future interconnection of the building fire alarm system with the unit smoke alarms, replacement of audible appliances with combination audible/visible appliances, or future extension of the existing wiring from the unit smoke alarm locations to required locations for visible appliances.

Me and my colleagues were debating over this code interpretation. Some were saying that all the units need to be prewired to be connected to the building fire alarm system where as I say in the last sentence, it says "shall be permitted to include" and then gives you three scenarios on how to achieve that capability which are

1. Pre-wiring the units with an empty conduit with a pull string so that you can pull the cable in the future. (This will be expensive to run an empty conduit)(OR)
2. You size your NAC circuits such that they have the capability to handle the future replacement of audio with audio/visual devices(Much simpler to put the extra buffer in the NAC circuit to handle the future load) (OR)
3. Extension of wiring from smoke alarms to future visible appliance locations.

What do you guys think?

 

[EE 1991]

What did you end up going with? Curious to see what other people are doing. The second option to me looks like a great solution with minimal cost, however you need to make sure all the required strobe locations are covered since they aren't necessarily going to be where the audible bases are.

 

[Lupaman]

In the Group R-2 residential condos/ apartments, it is not cost effective to install visual signals in every unit. Further it is not possible to anticipate ownership of a housing unit by a person with a hearing impairment, and it is against Federal Housing Laws to dictate which units may be sold to hearing impaired individuals.

When a building fire alarm system is provided, the ICC A117.1 in section 1005.3 requires, the system wiring to be extended to a point within the unit. The intent is to provide the adaptability of the units to be accessible by providing for visible notification of a general alarm condition.

For non-voice R-2 projects, the horns installed in the bedrooms and common area can be converted to horn/strobes to meet the future adaptability requirement.

For voice R-2 projects with hard corridor ceilings (non-accessible), the speakers installed in the bedrooms and common areas utilize an audio circuit, so they can not be converted. I recommend installing provisional wiring for future strobes to satisfy the code’s requirements. This pre-wiring extends the strobe circuit from the common space into the private space. Designate these provisional wiring pull box locations on the drawings or identify the location (i.e. front hall closet) to satisfy the AHJ reviewing the design.

I have found this interpretation of the building code to be the least restrictive while still meeting the intent of the code. Other options include pre-wiring every unit for future strobes or even installing strobes in every unit. Finally, on voice projects, some engineers specify that a strobe circuit be pulled to every ‘speaker-only’ locations for the ability to add a future strobe, but capacity of the power supply must be considered.